The Father job - Part 1
by mindless-junk-247
Summary: Getting back from a job nobody expected to see a teenage girl in the bar, nor did anyone expect Eliot to know her. (Part 1/3)
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:** Getting back from a job nobody expected to see a teenage girl in the bar, nor did anyone expect Eliot to know her.

**A/N: **Eliot deserves some love in his life. Nuff' said.

The Father job

They entered McRory's with a smile. Their latest job had included bringing down a corrupted pharmaceutical company saving potentially hundreds of lives. It was late and they should've had the entire bar to themselves. Should've.

Their chatter immediately stopped at the sight of a brown haired teenage girl sat at the bar with a glass of water. Her eyes locked with theirs and it was the bartender that offered the team a bright smile, "She's been waiting all day for you."

"I got it," Eliot said, moving past the group with a slight nod to the bartender. He stopped at the bar and turned to his team to say, "I'll be up in a sec."

The team merely stared at the Hitter with confusion before Nate nodded and turned towards the stairs that lead upstairs to Nate's apartment. "Come on team, let's go celebrate."

There were stares and even a few whispers between Parker and Hardison, but Eliot waited until they'd left, until the bartender bid the two of them goodnight and left herself before turning to the young girl. "What are you doing here Caitlin?"

"What happened to your face?"

During the job Eliot had needed to take care of a few bodyguards and unfortunately for him, one of them had a good swing. A nice bruise was forming over his left cheek. "Answer the question."

"Mum wants to move to California with her new hubby."

It took Eliot a moment to take in what the girl was saying, his face pulled in one of confusion before he hissed a "What? Cali- California?" After a moment he looked down at her feet to see a large rucksack and he sighed, running a hand over his face. "Oh you didn't."

"Expect a phone call," was the only confirmation he needed to sigh loudly.

"Caitlin, she's your mother."

"I'm not going to California! Not with him! I hate him. I've told her and I've told him, I hate him!"

He opened his mouth to tell her that he couldn't be that bad a guy when his phone went. A quick glance and he sighed again. "That's your mother, give me a minute." He answered the call with a "She's here…. Uh huh….. When were you going to tell me you were moving to California?... Without asking me? Without telling me? Thanks a lot Hannah…. I don't care okay. She's my daughter too! How am I supposed to see her in Cali?... Don't you bring that up…. Hannah…. Did you even ask her?" He offered a glance towards Caitlin and turned his back on her, "How about before you move she spends a week with me? Ya'know, so I can properly say goodbye if I need to."

He hung up and turned back to Caitlin. "Come on, let's get you to bed shall we?"

She quirked a brow at him with a look of disbelief. "But I just got here."

"Yeah, and now you're just going to bed."

She made a groan and jumped off the barstool and grabbed her bag. "What about your friends?"

With another sigh he pointed to her seat, "Wait here." With that said he turned towards the back of the pub, took the stairs two at a time and pushed the door open. As he expected, silence met him and on the screen sat a video feed of Caitlin putting herself back onto her seat. He quirked a silent eyebrow at Hardison and turned to the rest of the team, "I take it you all heard."

It was Nate that nodded but Parker who said, "Why didn't you tell us?"

He sighed. The only people in the world who knew he had a daughter were her mother and her. That was it. If word got out that Eliot Spencer had a child there was no telling to what extremes some people would go to put him down. "Safety Parker. If everybody knew I had a daughter they'd use her to get to me and I don't want that."

"Don't keep her waiting," Nate said, nodding to the screen that still had the image of Caitlin on it.

Eliot nodded and left the team to join his daughter in the bar. "Come on."

Caitlin grabbed her bag back up and threw it over one shoulder. As they reached the door she turned her head towards him with pleading eyes and said, "Can I drive?"

He lifted both brows and opened the door for her. "You don't have a license."

"So?"

He stared at her before saying, "Get in the car. Don't push it."

She pulled a face before she opened the passenger side door and climbed in. She threw her bag by her feet and buckled herself in. "Are you sleeping on the couch? Again?"

Eliot shrugged as he pulled the car out of the small parking lot. "Where else am I going to sleep?"

"I'll take the couch."

That made him pull a face this time and paused as the lights changed to look at her with the same look. "Look, darling, it's fine." He pushed the gas pedal and they were going again. "Tell me, how's school going for you?"

"You know, same old same old. Nothing special. What do you do now for a job?"

He spared her a glance out of the corner of his eye and with a shrug said, "You know, same old same old." A comfortable silence settled between the two of them, both wearing the same smirk. They settled into the same routine with ease as Eliot parked his truck and turned the engine off.

When they got inside Eliot's apartment Caitlin threw herself onto his couch, dumping her bag by the side of it. "I almost forgot what this place looked like."

Eliot swiped her legs off the couch, forcing her to sit up, "Yeah well as long as you remember no shoes on the couch."

"Sorry," she muttered standing back up and grabbing her bag. "I still have some clothes here right?"

He nodded as he moved towards the kitchen, "You always have clothes here. Pretty sure you need to throw some of them out."

"I'll get round to it!" she called as she closed the door to the only bedroom. Eliot shook his head with a smile. It always amazed him how easily Caitlin settled back into his life after a while. He moved around the kitchen, gathering pieces together to make a quick stir fry suspecting that Caitlin hadn't eaten that much since she'd ran away from her mother's.

Back at McRory's in Nate's apartment Parker frowned as she sat on the chair, legs folded underneath her and a bowl of cereal in her hands. "I thought Eliot trusted us," she muttered, angrily scooping a bowl of milk and cereal into her mouth.

"Oh he does honey," Sophie said, "There are just some things that people keep to themselves I mean, surely there are things you won't tell us because you feel safer with us not knowing." The thief gave a half shrug and shovelled another spoon of cereal into her mouth. Sophie smiled and stood back up, "And as Eliot said, the more people that know about Caitlin the more he has to worry that somebody would hurt her."

"I get it," she said before returning back to her cereal.

Sophie moved over to Nate's figure sat on the couch in front of the TV sets, an image of Caitlin still on the screen. The woman looked from Nate to the screen. "What are you thinking?"

It was a moment before Nate responded and when he did he merely shrugged his shoulders. "Just, you know, thinking."


	2. Chapter 2

When Caitlin reappeared from the bedroom Eliot was already setting two plates down and shovelling food onto both of them. "Ooh, smells good."

"Yeah well I can't trust you to eat well enough for yourself."

"I take insult to that."

He smirked and pushed a plate in her direction and grabbed two forks, handing one over to her. "How did you even get here?"

Caitlin swallowed the lump of food in her mouth and said, "I got a bus. Or two buses really."

He frowned at her. His protective father side came out as he flinched at the idea of Caitlin taking two buses on her own across two states. Anything could have happened to her between there and here and yet, she was fine. A small sigh escaped him and he jabbed his fork in her direction. "You run away again I'll ground you until you're thirty. Got it?"

He saw the guilt in her face and she gave a resigned nod, "Sorry."

"Just don't do it again. Anything could've happened." She nodded in agreement and he nodded back, a disturbed silence settling between them as they carried on with their food. "What are you doing for school anyway? Isn't it the middle of the semester?"

Caitlin shook her head, "Nah, we finished for Spring break three days ago. It's a two week break then back to school."

"Alright," that raised another question in his mind. "What does your mum plan on doing for school in Cali?"

A deep sigh resonated and Eliot rose his brows. "Transfer. Across the friggin' state."

"Hey! Watch your mouth."

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "But it's just, all of my friends are there and I know my way around."

Eliot shrugged, swallowing another mouthful of food. "Maybe it won't be as bad as you think it will be."

He watched her blanch and couldn't help the twitch at the corner of his mouth, "Surfer boys?"

That comment fully made him laugh and he finished his food off. "You got a point." The next few minutes were spent with clearing and cleaning plates, arguing about going to bed and eventually Caitlin going to bed. Eliot waited an hour before he checked in on her, smiling at the sight of her curled into the covers that half covered her body and legs. He refused to pull them over her; she only kicked them off seconds later, and closed the door. Grabbing a throw, kicking off his shoes and lying down on the couch Eliot finally allowed himself to gain a quick two hour nap.

It was eight in the morning when Nate called him, asking if he wanted a few days away to spend time with Caitlin. "Thanks Nate," he muttered as he cast a glance towards the bedroom. "Appreciate it."

"We'll call you if it's an emergency." Eliot accepted the older man's words and closed his phone, letting himself sink back into the newspaper from that morning. There were a few articles about terrible accidents, about people having great luck with success, a few sob stories; overall there wasn't much that gained his full attention.

He'd already eaten his breakfast and it was turning eleven when Caitlin finally emerged. He offered her a cocked brow and a one sided smirk. "What?"

"It's nearly noon. Seriously?"

"What? I'm a teenager. It's what we do."

He shook his head and moved towards the fridge. "Listen, I hope you got yourself some homework because it's a long week and I won't be around every day."

A yawn sounded and she nodded at him, "Yeah I did. I'll get it done." There was a moment of quiet as Eliot put a glass of orange juice in front of her and put two pieces of bread in the toaster. "So, what's the plan?"

"The plan is for you, to do your homework first. I don't want you to leave it until the last minute."

"I won't!"

"Just so you don't that's all, and then," he shrugged, "I don't know. I didn't expect you to turn up yesterday."

She offered him a sheepish shrug and bit into the toast he put in front of her, "Sorry about that." When she finished her breakfast she grabbed a shower and Eliot flicked the radio on. The rest of the day went by quite peacefully as he listened to the various news reports, a few country songs here and there and read a book whilst Caitlin sat with her laptop on the other end of the couch doing her homework.

Caitlin called it a night before it reached ten and Eliot decided to do a few stretches and exercises once he was sure she'd gone to bed. It was around two AM when Caitlin awoke to Eliot practicing his swing on the punching bag that sat in one corner of his flat. "Do you ever sleep?" she asked, arms folded and body pressed against the doorframe.

Eliot stopped the swinging bag and looked at her with a frown, "Didn't mean to wake you up, go back to bed okay?"

She shook her head and stepped closer to him. "Can we?"

He quirked a brow and said, "It's two AM. Really?"

Caitlin shrugged and unfolded her arms. "Why not?"

He paused, just observing her for a moment before he waved her over. "Come on." It took a few minutes for Caitlin to wake up and in that time Eliot dragged out two mats from the corner and set them down. A regular occurrence when Caitlin stayed for even just a day, was Eliot teaching her some basic self-defence techniques in case she ever got into trouble. His argument for the teaching was that he knew he wouldn't always be there for her when she needs help and he'd rather she be able to defend herself then just suffer some form of punishment.

"Okay," he said, stepping on one side of the mat. "You ready?"

She stood on the other side of the mat, arms up and feet shoulder width apart. With a nod she took a step forward and Eliot responded. The next hour passed with Caitlin landing on her butt an awful lot, but not without some fight. Eliot decided to call it and held a hand out to help her up. She frowned up at him and took his hand. "You're getting better," he said.

"Yeah well, still not as good as you."

Eliot laughed and folded his arms. "You'll get there sweetheart."

"I hope so," she said with a smirk. A yawn escaped her and Eliot nudged her in the direction of the bedroom, telling her to get some sleep. She gave a nod and slinked away. Eliot smiled as he put the mats away and changed into a pair of jogging bottoms and vest. He decided to grab a quick run whilst Caitlin slept through the rest of the morning.

Back at McRory's Nate listened to a man tell him that his brother was missing. His brother had been having troubles from a lawyer and a banking firm that claimed the school for troubled youths he was a part of was sinking. They'd been bribed with thousands of dollars to shut down the centre and now his brother was missing.

"Honestly, a missing person is a job for the Police."

"I know Mr Ford, but these guys have been hounding us for weeks now, trying to get us to sell. These kids can't afford that. Without this centre they'll be prone to run in gangs, skip school, get into trouble and end up in juvie or jail."

Nate nodded and took a glance at the file that he'd been provided with. It contained several notices about discussed failed payments to the bank and such. There were also other pages that contained lists of other people that had been affected by the same people. "How did you get a hold of this list?"

The client; a Mr James Riverton, sighed and held his head in his hands. "I'm a file organiser for the department of building legislation. Any information about a business that close or changes hands comes through my department. The same names for the lawyer and the same bank crosses each of these businesses. I know that this has happened before Mr Ford, please, can you do something?"

Nate took another moment to glance over the file and nodded. "We'll see what we can do."

When their client had left Sophie turned to Nate and said, "Nate, this sounds like we need Eliot. I mean, if a man's been kidnapped."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves Sophie. We might be able to do this without him." With that he called the team together for a meeting to discuss the job.


	3. Chapter 3

Caitlin didn't arise until it had gone one and Eliot only tutted at her as he grabbed his jacket off the hook. "Get dressed, we need groceries and you're coming."

"Can't we wait five minutes?"

Eliot shucked his jacket on and said, "That's five minutes whilst you get dressed." Just because she was his daughter and he loved her didn't mean she was off the hook for running away from her mothers. In theory, he should punish her more for what she did. Forcing her to go grocery shopping was one step towards punishment in his opinion.

Caitlin over emphasized her groan as she closed the bedroom door once more. It took her ten minutes to re-emerge, her brown plaited hair stopping just above her shoulder. Blue eyes gleamed tiredly at him, but his blue eyes did not gleam back. The pair of shorts she wore showed too much leg in his opinion and he rose both brows at her. "Your mother lets you where those?"

She shrugged, "Yeah?"

"I'm not. Change, please." Another groan and Eliot frown, "And stop it with the groaning!"

"Yes Dad!" She shouted back as she closed the door once more. He rolled his eyes and waited another two minutes before she came back out, this time in a denim skirt and skin coloured leggings. "Better?"

"Much, thank you." She grumbled at him as they left and he only shook his head. The store was a five minute walk and Eliot grabbed a basket. He doubted there wold be much more he would need for the both of them for an entire week and if so, he could always nip back in. "What do you want to eat?"

Caitlin shrugged and followed him into the store, "I'm not a fussy eater."

"Thankfully," he muttered as he looked at a packet of cod and decided he could do something with them for tonight. He grabbed a large pack of noodles, some sauce mixes, fresh apples and a few more bits. "You want anything?" She shook her head, eyes fixed on a book tower. He sighed. If there was one thing she loved it was books. "Go grab one."

It took five minutes for her to decide on one book and Eliot paid, handed her one of the bags and took the other for himself. "How much homework have you got over the holidays?"

"Just some algebra, history and science. It's nothing I can't do in a few hours." She shrugged and followed him back to his apartment. That's when a tone went off and Caitlin pulled her phone from out of her pocket. She tapped away at the buttons for several minutes and pocketed it again. "Is there going to be anything planned between us this week or is it just make it up as it goes?"

Eliot shrugged. In all honesty he just wanted to spend time with his daughter before her mother forced her to go to California. "We'll make it up I guess." He nodded to her phone as it gave another beep, "Mother or friends?"

"Friends. There was a party tonight apparently."

"Ah," he said.

Back at the Leverage office, pictures of the lawyer and the banking manager that had approved the closure of several small businesses sat on the screens facing the team. "All right," Nate said as he looked over the screens of information in front of him. The two business men regularly scheduled meetings with one another, particularly every Thursday morning at ten AM. "Tomorrow is Thursday, there, me and Sophie shall approach them with a new con."

"The blueberry pie?" Sophie asked.

"Wall street diver," Nate said.

"Ooh," Parker said with interest. "I like that one."

Nate smiled and Hardison tapped away at his keyboard, "Alright, now I put together a website for the pair of you, Thompson Financials. Founder and co-founder of insurance policies for all sorts of companies that soon went under, but as you worked your magic after buying the businesses, the revenue went up and boom, you guys make millions."

"Excellent. Parker, I want you to be a waitress, Hardison will get you in and we'll need to duplicate both phones just to keep all ears on them."

"Got it," the blonde haired woman said.

"Alright," Nate said. "Now, if Thomas Riverton has been kidnapped then there must be a reason why. Hardison, I want you to dig into Thomas' emails, phone records, bank records anything that will tell us what he found out that posed a threat to these two men. You two? Let's go."

It was nine in the evening and Eliot's phone rang in his pocket. Caitlin looked up from her laptop and watched as he stood and moved towards the kitchen to answer it in a low voice. "This better be an emergency Hardison."

"Nate was kidnapped man and one of the guys punched Sophie. Man you gotta get back here."

Eliot cast a wary glance in Caitlin's direction and sighed. "Alright give me twenty minutes."

"You got it man."

He hung up and stuck his phone back into his pocket. With another sigh he turned and faced Caitlin who was busy typing away on her laptop. "Go, I can look after myself."

"I'm sorry sweetheart." He paused for a moment. Part of him was tempted to take her with him. He would feel somewhat better knowing that she would be surrounded by people he trusted rather than in an apartment on her own. With a sigh he decided to tell her what he did, "Okay look, my job is to beat bad people up to keep the good people safe, that's why I have this bruise," he pointed to his face. "One of my friends took a job to help someone who was in trouble and now he's been kidnapped."

Caitlin looked up at him, a hint of pride in her eyes and he paused, waiting for her response. "What?"

"Look, the job went bad and I need to know you're safe whilst I try to find my friend. I'd feel better if you were with some of my other friends."

Caitlin nodded and jumped to her feet. "Yeah, sure, of course. Let me just grab my stuff."

"Hurry up," he muttered. Part of him was concerned about how easily Caitlin had taken this and accepted it. Another part of him was glad that she understood and accepted what he did. When they reached the car, a backpack on her back, it was then that he opened his mouth. "You got any questions about what I do?"

"Sure," she said with a shrug, " But you have a friend to save. I'm sure the questions can wait."

"Thanks darling," he said as he drove just over the speed limit to get back to McRory's.


	4. Chapter 4

Eliot stormed in, eyes seeking out Hardison. "What happened?" His eyes landed on Sophie who held her arms across her chest, a small mark on her cheek. That only angered him more. "You okay?"

The grifter nodded and wiped a strand of hair out of her eyes. "I'm fine. It's Nate I'm more worried about."

The sound of the door closing turned all eyes onto Caitlin. She offered the room a small smile and said, "Hi."

"Hello there," Sophie said.

"Guys, this is Caitlin. I, I didn't want to leave her on her own, ya'know with Nate missing and stuff."

"That's cool man," Hardison said from his spot by the screens. Quick introductions were made and then Eliot shuffled Caitlin towards Nate's bedroom to get some work done whilst the rest of them talked about getting Nate back. "Alright so, we were running the Wall Street Diver where Sophie and Nate met up with the marks at lunch."

"We walked away," Sophie interrupted, "with what we thought was a solid offer. We were supposed to meet them two hours later at their office to finalise the paperwork."

"But they hit Sophie, knocked Nate out and kidnapped him," Hardison finished off. "Now, I tracked his earpiece to some abandoned warehouse here." A map appeared on the screen and Eliot studied the image for a few careful silent seconds. By his guessing it would take next to a miracle to get Nate out of there, if he was even there and not just his earpiece.

"Alright, did they want anything, say anything?"

Both Sophie and Hardison shook their heads, Parker's gaze was focused on the stairs. "She doesn't look like you," the thief commented.

Eliot gave her a look before shaking his head with a sigh. "Alright, Hardison you still got those FBI badges?"

"You're not seriously going to in there are you? Alone?"

Eliot turned his gaze towards Parker. "You got your climbing gear."

The thief smirked unnaturally so at the comment, "Always."

"Let's get Nate back."

Hardison returned, a handful of FBI badges in hand, "What's the plan again?"

Eliot turned to the hacker and took the badges off of him, cycled through them until he found his and Hardison's. "You and I, walk in as FBI, Parker gets on top with her gear. Whilst we distract whoever's there, she'll go down, take Nate back up and we'll all leave."

The hacker stared at him for ten seconds in silence before saying, "You make it sound so easy."

"It'll be fine, we'll get him back. Sophie, can you stay here and keep an eye on Caitlin for me?"

Sophie smiled reassuringly and nodded, "No problem. Just bring him back." The three of them left and Sophie spared a glance up the stairs before she sighed. She knew this job wasn't easy and wouldn't come with its risks, but physical harm didn't occur to her that much. Part of her wondered how Eliot could do such a thing most days to protect them.

Footsteps shook her out her stupor and she looked up to see Caitlin stood there in a pair of dark jeans and a fitted red shirt, a green checked over shirt finishing the look. That appearance reminded her of Eliot, and even the eyes. "Erm, hi, Sophie?"

"Yeah, is, is everything okay?"

"Yeah I was just wondering where the bathroom was." She waved the girl to the door down the small corridor and sighed as she took a seat. She only hoped that Nate was in one piece when they brought him back.

In the car, Hardison made excuses as to why he shouldn't have to walk into a room of thugs that might potentially have guns. "Can it Hardison! Nate would do the same for us."

"We can't leave him there," Parker piqued from the back seat. "Besides, it'll be fun."

Hardison spared the woman a glance, "Jumping from any building is fun for you."

"What's not to love?"

Hardison shook his head and so did Eliot. He understood that Parker worked in different ways and he'd learnt to accept that. With the thought of Nate possibly being injured whilst they were on their way, he pushed the car to go faster. The thirty minute journey turned into a seventeen minute trip and the car was silent as they each looked at the warehouse with a frown. Eliot nodded and stepped out of the car, "Alright, Parker, go and get ready. Tell us when you're on the roof and when you can see Nate."

The blonde nodded and scampered off, her bag of climbing gear over her shoulder. Hardison opened the boot of the car and dragged out two FBI jackets, "So, how are we going to distract them? Condemned building? Drugs? Cartel? I mean, we need to set a straight story."

"They're interrupting an FBI operation and we need to know what for. Simple."

"Okay," Hardison nodded, pocketed his FBI badge and made a start towards the warehouse behind Eliot, "Let's do this."

Back at the office Sophie busied herself with preparing herself a drink. "I hope they bring, Nate? Back. I know Dad will do his best."

Sophie smiled at Caitlin's words. "I hope so too dear and we know your father will do everything he can to help Nate." She took a seat on the couch and observed the girl some more. She'd stuffed her hands into her pocket and stepped closer towards the couch. "So, tell me, do you plan to go to college?"

Caitlin shrugged and removed her hands from her pockets to lean against the back of the couch. "I don't know. I mean, that's only a year away but, it just seems, huge. I've kinda always thought about doing something in management or economics, maybe even resort management? I don't know." She shrugged and sighed.

Sophie patted the seat next to her and Caitlin joined her. "Follow your heart. What do you want to do the most?"

Caitlin shrugged again and leaned into the couch. "I don't know I mean, there's so much but then there isn't because of the economy."

Sophie couldn't help but smirk. Whilst Eliot always seemed to know what he was doing Caitlin had no idea. "What do you love to do? Ignore school, ignore college, just, just tell me what you love to do in your free time."

There was a moment of silence as Caitlin stared at her, one brow cocked as if to ask if Sophie was serious. Another shrug. "Drawing? I don't do it too often, but, I guess I love that."

"So go to an Arts college! Problem solved."

That made her wince. "I don't know, I mean, I would have to put a portfolio together and I'd have to move away from-" she paused a frown forming on her face. "Maybe I should."

Sophie felt her smile grow, "The important thing is to do what you love not what you think is right."

Caitlin shared a smile with her and nodded her head, "Yeah I guess."


	5. Chapter 5

As Eliot walked towards the warehouse Nate's signal was coming from, Parker's voice came over the ear pieces, "Guys, I see him. He seems okay."

"Where are they Parker?"

There was a pause before the thief replied, "Near to the back. There's a view crates and stuff in the way though."

"Alright," Eliot said. "Come on." The two of them rushed towards the building but slowed their pace down as they reached the door. They turned the corner to see just two men perched against a set of crates each. "Gentlemen," Eliot began. He glanced towards Hardison and pushed a hand into his pocket to pull out an FBI badge. "We'd like to know what you're doing here?"

Neither man said something, just looked at each other and back to Eliot and Hardison. The hacker was the one to speak next, "Alright, alright look, if you guys get out of here now, we won't write down that you're trespassing in and FBI investigation, otherwise, we'll have to arrest your asses."

Eliot quirked a brow at the two men as they inched closer, hands shifting ever so slightly. He gave a short laugh and held his hands up, stepping slowly closer to them as he spoke, "Look guys, we just want you to know." By now he stood in front of the two men and as a smirk lifted the corner of his mouth he pushed one fist out into one of the men's faces, turned and brought his elbow back into the other man's neck. He focused his attention of quickly knocking the two men out before he and Hardison moved further into the warehouse.

In Nate's apartment Caitlin leaned forward on the couch and turned an inquisitive eye in Sophie's direction, "Why did they take Nate? I mean, did they not leave a reason or explanation?"

Sophie shook her head, "Oh sweetie you don't have to worry about this sort of stuff."

She shrugged and said, "I was just wondering, I mean, usually there's a reason why somebody is kidnapped."

"Well, we were interrupting a scam they were pulling but we were offering them a better one," her voice trailed off and left Caitlin quirking a brow in confusion. "But they'd kidnapped James' brother, why? Why would they need to kidnap him?"

Caitlin shrugged and sat herself back into the couch, "To keep him out of the way?"

"Out of the way of what?" With a busy mind Sophie stood and moved towards the desk that sat the file James had given them. She scanned over the properties that had been bought and forcibly shut down and the locations of these properties. "I wonder," she moved towards a computer and tapped a few keys slowly. "Where's Hardison when you need him?" she muttered as she sat back in the seat.

"What's wrong?" Caitlin asked, now stood up and looking over the same file that Sophie had previously been looking at.

Sophie turned in her seat to look at the teenager. "Huh? Oh, I was trying to pull up a topography map of the area to see if there were any interesting land mark features such as oil reserves of mineral deposits."

Caitlin shrugged and ambled over to the computer, file in hand. "Why not just look into the history?"

Sophie frowned at the girl for a moment before a thought occurred, "Or, even better." She held a hand up, grabbed a phone and dialled a number. "Today, you'll learn how to trick people into giving you information over the phone."

"Huh?"

Sophie smirked and held a hand up, "Hi, historical survey team? My name's Amanda Taylor and I'm writing an article for the National Geographic on the history of the land in Boston, more specifically the area just north of the centre of Boston. I was wondering if you could give me some information on the history of the land that would be excellent."

On the other end of the line Caitlin could just about make out the words, "Well miss Taylor thank you for contacting us. We'd be honoured to give you the information sure, just allow us a minute to find the documents."

Caitlin nodded with a smile, "Nice."

Placing a hand over the mouthpiece Sophie said, "All you need is a confident voice, a firm attitude and a strong voice."

In the warehouse, Eliot and Hardison had to move behind a stack of crates as three men opened fire with guns. "I hate guns!" Eliot shouted over the sound of the gunshots.

"Parker," Hardison shouted into his earpiece, "can you grab Nate?"

There was a moment before Parker said, "No, there's still a guy with him."

"Alright," Eliot said as he moved to the other side of the crate. "Hardison-"

"No, no way man," he said as he held his hands up. "I am not playing bait."

Eliot frowned and growled. "Dammit Hardison. Parker! Please tell me you can do something."

"There's people Eliot! People in the way."

"So, stab them or something."

There was a sigh from the other side of the line and Eliot rolled his eyes, "Fine, whatever."

There was a shout that was just audible over the gunfire and both Eliot and Hardison shared a look with one another. After a few moments the gunfire stopped and Eliot peered around the corner to see the gunmen moving back to where they came from. "Get after them," one man shouted and Eliot took that moment to grab Hardison's jacket and throw him in the general direction of the exit. A few bullets bounced by their feet as they ran straight towards the car, Nate and Parker just in front of them.

When they were in the car Nate said, "Listen guys, we need to re-assess the situation."

"Let's get back to the office first," Hardison said as he checked his body for any bullet holes or bleeding orifices.

When they got back it was to find Sophie and Caitlin 'aww-ing' at a video of three kittens testing a paddling pool whilst a fourth kitten jumped about inside of it, splashing water everywhere. "Aww," Parker said, standing next to the two other women.

That caused both of them to turn to face the room. Sophie moved over towards Nate immediately, noticing a solid bruise in the side of his face a fresh wound on his right cheek bleeding. "I'm okay, but a lot of people aren't going to be real soon."

"Nate, the land that all of the properties are on is a suspected site for large mineral deposits. These people are buying out land to mine."

"Is that your computer?" Eliot asked Caitlin, pointing to the large set up that Hardison had construed.

"No, but-"

"Upstairs, go, now."

"It's just youtube," Caitlin muttered as she ambled over to the stairs and back up them.

Nate waved his hand away and said, "They close down places with "suggested" mineral deposits. These just seem like the real reason."

"So," Hardison moved to his computer and shut down the video, "What is the real reason then?"

"Profit, money, more money," Nate said. "Tell me, why would you close down several small businesses and inherit them as your own?"

Nobody answered him and he smiled to himself. "Money. Notice, how each business is directly next door to an expensive store; Hardison, bring up a map of the city." Hardison did and Nate pointed to the map, "Jewellers, antiques, banks, and museums. Not to mention several small shops that have the exact same purpose."

"But they're already business men, they already have enough money, why would they need more?"

Nate held a finger up to Sophie and said, "Not them. Someone blackmailing them."


	6. Chapter 6

"What?" Hardison spoke first. "Blackmail? You're telling us that they're not fully responsible for this?"

Nate held a hand up and said, "When they held me hostage I overheard one of the men on the phone to somebody else. They mentioned something about a boss guy in Mexico."

"The only people with power in Mexico are drug cartels and gun runners," Eliot said. He nodded to the map that Hardison now had up on the big screen. "But I don't see a reason for them to hit all of these places. They make enough money from their own businesses they wouldn't need to steal."

"No, true," Nate said. "So who's really running the game?"

"And where's James' brother?" Sophie raised the question.

"And why hold him?" Hardison said.

There was silence as each person thought about the questions running through their minds. There just weren't any answers that they could pick out. Nothing that popped out to them. After ten minutes of awkward silence Eliot moved to the stairs to check on Caitlin. When he reached the top he found her on her laptop, typing away. She glanced up at him with a smile, laid back in Nate's bed with her feet crossed at the ankles, "Hey, everything okay?"

He nodded and sat on the edge of the bed with her. "Yeah, I just want to make sure you're doing okay."

She nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay."

He nodded and watched as she went back to typing away. "I thought you'd want to know more about what we did?"

Caitlin shrugged, eyes still on the screen. "You help people and you risk yourselves to do so. So what? I'm proud of that. Most people can't say their parents would do the same for complete strangers."

Eliot felt a smile on his face grow. After a moment he stood and bent down to kiss the top of her head. "Alright darling, you get your work done."

"Almost is," she called as he moved back down the stairs. The four other people now sat around the table, discussing what possible troubles could be waiting for them. "Maybe it's someone trying to create a diversion." That was Hardison.

"For what?" Sophie asked.

"I don't know, to steal another bank?"

"That doesn't make sense," Parker said. "Why not just steal straight from the bank?"

"To get away easier," Nate said, eyes fixed on a spot on the table.

Eliot sat himself down in a seat opposite of Hardison, "So where does it leave us?"

Nobody spoke for a minute, mere shrugs greeting him until Nate said, "We go back to James' brother. He must've found something very important in order to get himself kidnapped. The people haven't called for a ransom and his body hasn't been found. Chances are, he's got something they want and he's not giving it to them."

"Okay," Eliot said, "And where do we start looking for him?"

Nate now looked towards Hardison, "Find out who owned that warehouse where I was. If we can find out who owns it, with any luck it won't be in the lawyer's or the banker's name, which means we can trace it."

"And we follow that we find out who has him," Sophie interrupted.

"And where," Parker said, nodding with a smile on her face. "I like it."

"Alright, I'm on it," Hardison said.

The hacker and thief moved towards the computers and the rest of the team got to their feet. Nate called Eliot over and motioned for them to move away from the rest so that they could have a small chat. "Listen Eliot, I know your daughter's here and you two are supposed to be spending time together, but, thank you, for helping to rescue me."

"It's my job to keep everyone safe."

"Yeah, I know, and now I can't guarantee that we won't need your help which means-"

"That I get to spend less time with Caitlin. Look Nate, I understand and somehow she does too. I appreciate what you're saying and it's fine. Now, if you need me to punch somebody, just say the word."

Nate laughed and patted Eliot on the back. "Not just yet, but I think you should take Caitlin home and get some rest. It's been a long day."

Eliot only nodded and moved back up the stairs. "Come on, time to go home."

Caitlin yawned and nodded, grabbing her things together and shoving them into her bag. "Okay. I think I'll just go to bed when we get back."

"Yeah, I can see that."

Both of them bid the others goodnight on their way out and the drive home was a quiet one. Eliot glanced over to see Caitlin's eyes slowly dropping and her head gradually turning to lean against the window. He smiled to himself. The past seventeen years of her life had been filled with odd meet ups and phone calls. He was grateful that she'd quickly gotten used to the idea of her parents not being married or together and that they lived apart. Thankfully her mother didn't just take her away from him, even if Caitlin had been conceived through a one night stand.

His smile was still on his face when he reached his apartment and he gently shook her awake. "Come on darling, time to get you to bed."

She yawned and nodded, "Okay." She followed him to the front door and paused behind him as he unlocked it. "Good night," she said closing the door behind her. She made her way towards the bedroom and closed the door.

Eliot went straight for the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of beer from the fridge. He'd gotten to putting the bottle to his lips when he heard Caitlin scream. "Katey!" he shouted, putting the beer down and making a run for the door. He tried the handle but the door wouldn't move. "Katey!"

"Dad!"

He shoved his full weight against the door and managed to force it open, sending a man stumbling to the floor. What he saw after that was another holding his daughter; one arm wrapped around her stomach the other around her throat. "Let her go," he growled to the man, taking a step into the room.

"The great Eliot Spencer has a daughter, who'd have thought."

Eliot growled and took another step into the room, but Caitlin's shout made him stop and turn his head just in time to feel something heavy and wooden collide with the side of his face. He was sent stumbling to the ground, but not before he smacked the set of drawers with his head, sending him into a black oblivion.


	7. Chapter 7

Eliot awoke to a throbbing skull and voices outside his door. "Eliot? Caitlin?" It was Nate's voice mixed in with Sophie's. He groaned and blinked several times to try to clear the fuzz that was his vision. The door clicked and the sound of three sets of footsteps made him wince, lift his head off the floor and get himself sitting on his knees for a moment. "Eliot?" Nate's voice got closer and Eliot forced himself to get to his feet and stumble into the doorframe. "Your comm went offline."

"Where's Caitlin?" he muttered with a growl in his voice. Somebody was going to pay.

Sophie shared a look with Nate and said, "She's not here?"

It was a moment before Eliot said, "I'm going to kill them."

"Do you know who took her?"

Eliot nodded to Nate and went to his freezer to grab a bag of peas and put them against his head. "Guys name is Rocco. He embezzles in fake everything. Jewellery, paintings, antiques, money. You name it he's faked it. I retrieved some documents years ago that were going to be used to make fake ID's for himself and some of his goons."

Nate frowned as he listened, "So why come after you? And why now?"

"I'd heard that whilst I retrieved his documents he'd conned a bunch of family's out of their money by selling them fake ornaments or jewellery for hundreds of dollars. Those family's weren't just the rich ones Nate. He even sold fake houses or cars that later got people arrested. I never took him the papers. Burnt them instead."

There was a moment of silence as Nate, Sophie and Parker took in what had been said. Sophie was the first to respond, "Do you think Rocco's behind these failed businesses then?"

Eliot shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, if he can fake whatever the store has, switch them out then he'd be rich in an instant and nobody would suspect a thing."

"The Devilled Egg," Nate said.

"But he'd be hitting dozens of stores," Sophie said. "Banks, antiques, museums, even the small businesses would suffer the backlash."

"Whilst Rocco gets away free, nothing connecting him to the crime," Nate said.

Parker passed Eliot a new comm, Hardison's voice coming out of it. "Alright, this Rocco person you guys keep talking about? He's racked up some hefty charges; kidnapping, extortion, forgery, blackmail, murder, theft, but none of it has ever been proven. I mean, Interpol, FBI, the CIA everyone knows he's responsible but they just don't have the evidence to put him away."

"Okay," Nate said. "Hardison, I want you to dig up any non-commercial buildings that have recently been bought or rented under any kind of alias, or name that is linked to the lawyer, the banker or Rocco himself. I want you to dig up everything about Rocco and I mean _everything_. Parker, Eliot, Sophie, let's go steal ourselves a crime lord."

Somewhere across town Caitlin shook with fear. The palms of her hands began to grow a thin layer of sweat as the car she was in turned corners. The hood over her eyes didn't permit her to see where they were going. She only knew that whoever it was that had kidnapped her had done so to get back at her dad. Deep down, she knew that he would do everything to get her back, that her dad would beat up all of this man's bodyguards to get to her and that thought kept her from whimpering and breaking down crying.

The car finally came to a stop and she was pulled out of the vehicle by a rough hand. That same rough hand pulled her along several metres. All she could hear was machinery and the sound of drills and saws, thuds and bangs from hammers. Part of worried if her dad was going to have enough time to get to her before something really terrible happened to her. A door opened and she was forced inside a room with the door slamming shut behind her.

A different hand gently guided her towards a chair, forcing her to sit and seconds later light invaded her eyes in a painful brightness. "So sorry Miss Spencer for any harm that came to you," a man spoke from behind her.

She turned her head to see a man in his late forties with salt and pepper hair. "You will be sorry."

The man laughed deeply to himself, "You mean your father? Ah, I am afraid for you he will not be around much longer."

"Other way around," she said, trying to keep the shaking from her voice.

Again, the man laughed and walked to face her front. He crouched down in front of her and looked down at her taped hands. "I am afraid that your father has hurt my business in the past and now, he and his team are beginning to hurt it even more so. Listen, kid, when you're all grown up in the adult world, you'll understand that some things aren't nice."

Caitlin swallowed, trying to moisten her dry throat and said, "Listen, freak, when you're all smarted out in the normal world, you'll understand that my dad will stop at nothing to get me back."

"Ah, but I count on that. His anger will be his downfall." The man's laugh was all that ricocheted in her head as he left her, the door locking behind him. She was alone in a room with no windows and only one door. Besides the chair there was only a radiator and a light. Nothing else. Her hands began to shake and her eyes pricked with water. Whatever her dad had done to piss this guy off was biting him in the ass and she didn't want him to die. He couldn't die, not in her eyes. Not yet.


	8. Chapter 8

"Dammit Hardison!" Eliot growled.

"Look, I'm sorry man but there isn't much here. The most I could dig up any name anybody has is nothing. This guy is careful man I'm sorry. I'll keep looking but-"

Nate held his hands up and stood between a raging Eliot and Hardison. "Alright, Eliot, you know this guy the best tell us what would he do?"

Eliot stopped his pacing to glare at the conman and with a sigh ran a hand through his hair. "Docks. He'd want to be near a boat to make a quick escape but he'd want to be far enough in land to make a legitimate business. Usually cars."

"Alright, Hardison, look for any recently opened car businesses, second hand, garages, anything in that kind of business no more than say twenty miles from the coast. Cross reference boat registrations with ownership names."

Hardison nodded and Eliot watched the screen with a venomous glare, his arms folded across his chest. Rocco was going to pay. He noticed Sophie stand next to him and glanced at her with a cocked brow. "He'll be expecting you."

"Good," Eliot said, "He should be worried."

"Eliot," Sophie whined. "He'll be expecting you to rescue Caitlin. He took her to make sure you came after him because he plans to get back at you."

There was a moment of silence as Eliot considered her words. There was some truth to her words; a great way to bring someone down would be through their offspring or family. "What do you want me to do then? Just sit around and wait?"

"No," Nate interrupted, "We'll think of something. Hardison, how are we doing?"

"Alright," the hacker said, "Well, I just hacked the boat registration list of the people who docked in Boston and I'm cross referencing that list with the list of people who own car businesses." A beep sounded moments later and Hardison sat back in his chair, "Okay, I got three matches but to find out which one is Rocco's would take me a bit longer."

"Do it, fast," Eliot said.

"I'm going as fast as I can but I gotta get into back records, employee records, do a background check on each employee to double check."

"Stop talking and just get on with it then," Eliot said.

Nate stepped towards Eliot and said, "Eliot, Hardison's doing his best. You just have to give it time." Eliot opened his mouth to speak but Nate held a hand up, "Does Rocco make a habit of hurting children?"

There was a moment before he said, "Usually not."

Nate nodded and turned to Hardison, "How much longer?"

"Well, I figured it'd be quicker to just check bank records and where the money originates, find the same account, find the name find Rocco."

"How long?"

"Ten minutes?"

"See," Nate said, "not long, now, about a plan of action. We can't go in trying to con him so we'll have to do it a different way."

Parker frowned, "Can we not steal Caitlin?"

"Not if you want to face dozens of bullets," Eliot said.

"Okay," Nate said, "the likely place they'd hold her is at the garage, plenty of noise to disguise any shouting she does and plenty of tools to keep her quiet."

A growl emanated from Eliot and Nate didn't spare the man a look. "So, I suggest that Parker or Hardison go in with a busted tail light. They know me and Sophie and they know who you are so if Hardison and Parker act as a distraction, Eliot, you can sneak in and find out where she is."

Eliot gave the man a glare and Nate said, "Or me and Sophie could look for Caitlin whilst Hardison and Parker provided a distraction and you hit some guys."

"I like that plan," the Hitter said.

"I got it," Hardison said, turning to face the room. "I got the garage."

"Let's go," Eliot said leading the way to the door and inevitable his own truck. When the team caught up with him they found Eliot with a crowbar in his hands. "Busted tail light?" He took the crowbar to the tail light of Hardison's car. Hardison's shout was ignore as the hitter threw the crowbar back into the back of his truck. "Let's go."

Nate shared a look with the rest of the team and shrugged, "Let's go." Nate and Sophie climbed into Eliot's truck with him and followed behind Hardison's car. When they reached the garage in question they stopped the truck on the opposite side of the road to the garage and watched as Hardison's car rolled into the garage.

In said garage Caitlin had gotten to her feet and moved over towards the radiator. If he Dad taught her anything it was that all tape could be cut by something sharp. He'd even gone out of his way to prove it a few times by showing her with the radiator in his apartment. But this radiator was nothing like the one in his room. She sighed and looked further around the room she was in. The only other thing that there was was the chair she'd been sat on. With a determined mind she moved towards it and observed several potentially sharp edges.

She sat down and with several grunts of effort she ran the tape on her wrists over several edges before she finally caused a small niche. With a smile she continued to run the tape over the edge until she could pull it away from her wrists with a triumphant grin.

But the grin was short lived and she frowned. There was no way to tell how many people were outside or how many would hurt her before anybody came for her. She tip toed towards the door and tried the door handle; nothing, it was locked.

She sighed and sank back down into her seat and simply stared at the wall opposite her, waiting. What felt like an hour passed before she heard the sound of machinery slow down and heard voices shouting over the top. "Hey, my man, listen, I reversed into a post and look I heard you were good and I need this done soon. Is there a chance you could get it done for me?" She recognised that voice. Alec Hardison?

She wished for a window now just to see if it really was him. Part of her considered shouting but over the machinery she wouldn't be heard. With a sigh she tried the handle again, this time with more force and the door opened after a moment to the sight of an athletic man who glared at her and stepped into the room, forcing her back into the room. "I need the bathroom?" she said with a shrug.

The man shook his head, "Nope. You're not allowed to leave this room." She gulped and stepped back further.


	9. Chapter 9

Eliot watched and listened with growing frustration as Hardison tried to talk to the men inside the workshop. He had his hands gripping the steering wheel in a death grip and his eyes stuck to the open door. Ten minutes had passed and he was getting itchy. "Nate."

The older man held a hand up and said, "Just, hold on."

He wringed his hands on the wheel and felt a growl begin to grow in the pit of his stomach. If Hardison or Parker didn't give him a sign soon he was just going to storm in there. "Nate, she's in there."

"I know, but let's see what Hardison can do."

Parker pulled herself out of the passenger side of Hardison's car and looked around the room. Her job was to see where Caitlin might be being held whilst Hardison kept talking. There were several off shoot doors that caught her attention and she said quietly, "There's a lot of doors here, a few cupboards."

Eliot slammed his hands on the wheel and got out of the car, Nate close behind. Parker's eyes widened slightly at the sound and she searched the walls once more, scanning each door carefully. There were maybe three she would choose over the others but she couldn't be sure until she looked.

Hardison moved closer to Rocco and shouted over the noise, "Look man, please can you do this for us? This is her father's car and I'm already in his bad books and I can't afford for him to be any madder at me. Please."

Caitlin looked past the man at the sound of Hardison's raised voice and this caused the man to turn his head to. The door was closed but he looked as if to humour her. She frowned. Her father's words echoed in her mind from anytime he'd practiced self-defence with her. "Find a weakness, every man has a weakness and don't worry about playing dirty."

"Dirty," she muttered to herself, unsure if she should do anything or just wait.

Eliot on the other hand stormed towards the garage. He'd had enough of waiting and needed to do some punching to release some of the anger that was quickly building in the pit of his stomach. He could hear Nate's voice calling him back but ignored the older man's words for the sake of causing pain. As he entered the garage machinery began to die and all eyes turned towards him. Rocco glared at him with a smirk and turned to Hardison and Parker, "I'm sorry but you'll have to leave whilst we settle some business."

Hardison blanched and looked between hitter and money maker, "But, please."

Rocco turned to Hardison with a glare now and said "Get out."

Muttering to himself Hardison climbed back into the car, Parker following suit and he muttered into his ear piece, "I hope you know what you're doing Eliot."

The hitter only nodded in response to Hardison's question and stood, arms folded and frown in place.

On the other side of the door Caitlin froze at the silence. She listened carefully to the chuckle that she assumed was Rocco as he spoke; "Eliot Spencer, retrieval expert."

"Caitlin," Eliot spoke and Caitlin's throat suddenly dried up. A lump formed and she had a hard time trying to breathe around it. "Let her go."

"Not so fast, I need to ensure that you're not going to interrupt in my business any longer."

Caitlin gritted her teeth and with a pit of rage at the idea of this man killing her father forced her to act without thinking. Gritting her teeth she took a stance, readied her right foot and shouted, "Hey!" The man who was trapped in the room with her turned his head and she raised her foot to meet the middle of his legs. The man gripped his groin with a groan and pinched his eyes closed. Remembering what her father taught her she curled her right hand into a fist, swung out and winced herself when it collided with his face.

The man gripped his nose as she gripped her hand and after seeing him try to right himself she remembered one move her father taught her that could wind or knock out an enemy. She stepped forward, grabbed the back of his head and lifted her knee to meet with his nose. The crack that followed made her jump back with shock. The lump jumped back into her throat and she lifted her hands to see them shaking uncontrollably. With fear she moved towards the door and tried the handle. The door was open and she pulled it apart just a few inches to peer out of it.

Several eyes were looking in her direction and she offered everyone a nervous smile. "Hey," she said awkwardly. That's when she saw her father and he smirked at her for a brief second before he turned, his fist colliding with the nearest face.

With a gulp she ducked out of the room and into the bigger room. After getting behind an old car she froze and simply sat there as a few gunshots were fired and grunts of pain were heard. A tear began to mark a path down her cheek and she wiped it away. Someone jumped around the car with her and she jumped back a bit. It was Nate. He held his hands up and beckoned her with him, "Are you okay?"

Caitlin was silent for a minute before she replied with a simple nod. "I think so."

He nodded to the open door and said, "Come on." Caitlin took his hand and allowed him to drag her out of the garage. When they reached a car Nate said into his ear, "Eliot, we're clear, make an exit."

"Give me a second Nate," was his response and Caitlin felt herself clinging to Nate's arm, her eyes glued to the garage. More tears began to make their way down her cheeks and Nate rubbed a hand on Caitlin's back.

It was three minutes before Eliot reappeared, running a hand through his hair and a frown fixed on his fate. Nate pulled Caitlin into the car and Eliot joined her in the rear seats whilst Sophie and Nate sat in the front, Nate driving. In the back seat Eliot swung an arm around Caitlin's shoulders as she curled into him, tears dripping down her cheeks. He removed his ear piece and kissed her forehead, "Nate can you drop us off at mine."

The older man nodded and said, "Sure. No problem."

There was little noise in the backseat and Sophie and Nate shared a look with one another. When Nate finally dropped them off Eliot guided Caitlin, who clung to his side, to his door and forced her inside. When the door closed Caitlin wrapped her arms around Eliot's neck and he patted her back and finally spoke, "Hush now darling, everything's alright. Did they hurt you?"

She shook her head and hung on ever more. Eliot frowned with a small sigh and held on. "I know sweetheart, I know. Shh, it's fine now."

"I thought he would kill you."

"Come here," he pushed her back and gripped her face in both hands, used both thumbs to wipe away her tears and offered her a smile. "I'm fine and you're fine. Remember, I'll never let anything happen to you, not if I can help it."

Caitlin nodded, "I know."

Her hands landed on his wrists, holding onto him to make sure he was still there and it was then he noticed the redness of her right hand and the slight swelling to her fingers. "Let me look at that," he said taking her hand in his and running his fingers gently over her hand. She winced and Eliot frowned. "Did you punch somebody?"

She half shrugged and said "Kind of."

He chuckled and said, "That's my girl," as he made his way towards the kitchen to grab a towel and some ice for her.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **I'm sorry for how long this has taken, I'mslowly getting back into the swing of writing again. enjoy.

Eliot didn't re-join the team until the afternoon, after making sure Caitlin was fine and after double checking that nothing in her hand was broken. Caitlin took a seat upstairs again and Nate only offered the man a nod as a silent question to which Eliot nodded back and said, "Can we get this guy?"

"Hardison?"

"Alright look, the Cops haven't been able to get at him for years but, look." Everybody looked towards the screen to watch as Hardison pulled up a set of files. "Here's the reason _why_ the cops haven't gotten close. This list is a list of names that are paid by him to run him under the radar. Now this name," on screen Hardison highlighted the name and immediately a picture of a Police Captain popped up. "Yeah. He's the Captain of the local Police precinct."

"Great," Eliot muttered, "The Cops are in on this."

"Not all cops, just the one," Nate said. "Alright look, if we can convince Captain Moor that there's an investigation going on, presumably about a bad cop, we might catch a break."

"So what?" Sophie began, "We tell Moor that Internal Affairs are nosing around and convince him that being paid by Rocco is a bad career move?"

"Yep," Nate said with a positive tone as if it were as easy as that. "We're going to do just that."

There was a moment of silence in the room that left the other four members of the team stumped. "That easy?" Hardison said.

Nate nodded. "Yeah. That easy Hardison."

"How though?" Parker interjected. "I mean, don't they know who Internal Affairs people are?"

Nate turned to Hardison with a grin and raised eyebrows. The Hacker shook his head for a moment then sighed. "I'll think of something," he turned to his computers and began typing away. Eliot took that time to pace the room, a frown permanently fixed to his features. He wanted Rocco to pay with a lot more than just a few years of jail time. Hell Eliot wanted to beat the hell out of him for even _thinking_ that taking Caitlin was a good idea. After a few minutes Hardison perked back up, "Alright look, Internal Affairs run a tight shift. Not to mention there's not an awful lot of employees."

"Bring up personnel photos we'll see if we can match any of us to them."

Hardison sighed and ran a program to identify features between the employees and their team that were even vaguely similar. Two popped up; Eliot and Hardison. "Alright boys, get ready."

Eliot growled as he realised he'd have to wear a suit. He hated suits. With a sigh he said, "Alright fine."

"Good," Nate said, "Now Hardison, why don't you grab me their phone numbers so that they can have a day off."

An hour later Nate sat in the main room of his apartment, a frown dotting his features. Eliot and Hardison were busy setting the pieces into place whilst Parker worked on sneaking into Moor's home to find anything that could link the man to Rocco. Sophie joined him on the couch, interrupting his thoughts as she tucked a leg underneath her. "Do you think we can do get Moor to give up Rocco in three days?"

Nate nodded, "Yeah, I mean, what Police Captain would like his career tarnished and to forever be branded a dirty cop. If we give him an out then hopefully, he should give us Rocco and with that we should hopefully find Tom." He frowned as a thought crossed his mind. Putting his drink down he moved to Hardison's computer and tapped a file. From that half a dozen files popped up and he flicked between them, looking for anything that would give them an indication of where they could possibly find Tom. "If I were a money grabbing bad guy, where would I hide someone I've kidnapped?"

"An abandoned building?" Sophie suggested.

"But I'd want to keep an eye on him. Keep someone on guard. But I wouldn't it anywhere that would look suspicious."

"So inside a legitimate shop, right in plain sight."

Nate nodded and smiled as he turned to Sophie. "But where exactly in plain…. Sight..." his words trailed off as he noticed Caitlin stood at the bottom of the stairs. He offered her a warm smile and a small wave, "Hello."

Sophie twisted to offer the girl a smile of her own. "Hello Caitlin."

Caitlin smiled sheepishly and dug a hand into her pockets. "Hi, I was just going to erm, grab some food."

Nate nodded and watched as she awkwardly moved towards the kitchen. She looked better then when he'd found her, but she still seemed, off. "How are you holding up Caitlin?"

The girl pulled her head out of the fridge and shrugged, "I'm okay I guess." She went back and sighed, closing the door. "Do you ever have anything in?"

"There's plenty in," Nate defended. "What, what are you looking for?"

Caitlin sighed with a slight smirk. "Food. To eat. Something other than orange soda, crisps and cereal. I might go and get some."

Sophie's head twisted in Nate's direction as Caitlin disappeared upstairs to grab a jacket and her purse. "Nate," she said.

"Go with her," he said, nodding to the girl as she reappeared.

"Where's the erm, nearest grocery shop?"

Sophie and Nate shared another look with one another before Sophie sighed and stood. "I'll show you sweetheart." Both women offered Nate a wave and a quick bye, leaving him alone. He sighed and turned back to the screen, his eyes looking through all of the details for anything that could give him an angle on Rocco.


	11. Chapter 11

Sophie let her eyes wander over the girl next to her. There were the odd similarities between her and Eliot, but she was sure if she were to meet Caitlin's mother, the two would look alike. She caught the girl glance at her and smiled softly, "If you like art so much, why hesitate to follow it?" she hoped a conversation about Caitlin's interests would help solve the problem of the silence between them.

She looked up at Sophie with a start and shrugged, "I guess it's just not something I thought to consider."

"Parental influence?"

A short laugh followed from Caitlin and she shrugged. "Yeah, a little. Mum decided I should become a vet or something."

"And Eliot?"

She shrugged again and offered the older woman a glance, "Dad doesn't care I guess, but he's usually off somewhere doing something."

Caitlin let off another shrug and Sophie offered her a tight smile. Eliot had left his daughter behind; telling her nothing as he went off to do God knows what. The poor girl had grown up with little interaction between herself and Eliot and now, they appeared to be as close as close could be. It was interesting to her. "Oh sweetie I'm sure he meant well. As you now know Eliot's job can sometimes be demanding and dangerous."

"Yeah, I got that." They reached the shop and Caitlin grabbed a basket and started loading it up with the odd item here and there. Sophie watched with curiosity as the teen loaded up the basket with enough food to feed a handful of people. It made her frown, which only increased when they reached the checkout and she paid for the food herself; a total just over $60.

She opened her mouth as the girl packed two bags full of food, "Erm, Caitlin."

"Catey, please."

"Catey," Sophie tried again and pointed to the two bags.

The young girl ducked her head with a sheepish grin and shrugged her shoulders, "Habit?"

Eliot growled as he sorted out his tie, the lift doors closing behind him and Hardison. "We sure they took the day off?"

Hardison nodded and gave a short laugh, "Look man, stop worrying. Nate say's it'll work, it'll work." Eliot gave the man a look to which Hardison opened and closed his mouth a few times, "It'll work."

The lift gave a quick ping and the two men stepped out and made a straight line towards Moors' office. To add to their cover they ignored everybody else in the office, only offered a nod here and there, and didn't bother to knock on the Captain's door.

Eliot closed the blinds whilst Hardison perched himself on the Captain's desk. "Captain," he said, pulling a badge from out of his pocket. "Internal affairs."

Moors stood form behind his desk and held a hand out with a nod and a smile, "What can I do for you boys? I hadn't heard anything about an investigation."

Hardison and Eliot offered each other a glance before Eliot cleared his throat and said, "That's because the investigation is you Captain."

It took a moment for the Captain to regain his composure and when he did he stared at the pair of them defiantly. "I've done nothing wrong."

Eliot pulled out a folded photograph from his pocket and showed it to Moors. "If you give us Rocco, this whole mess could be swept underneath the rug and you would get to keep your job, your pension when you retire and honour to your name."

An hour later and both Eliot and Hardison walked into the office to the smell of cooking chicken. "What is that wonderful smelling food?"

"Chicken," came Catey's voice from the kitchen area.

"Moors gave us an address," Eliot said, shunning his shirt jacket and moving to stand behind Catey. He took the spoon from her and tasted the food. After a quick try he fiddled around the counters until he found a jar of rosemary and added a sprinkle to the dish. "Pinch more salt and seasoning."

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered obeying her father's wishes. "Just stay out of my food."

Eliot cast a glance over his shoulder as he hung his jacket up. "Sorry for helping you make it taste better."

"Hardison," Catey called, "Stop drooling."

"Yeah," Nate inputted, "Hardison, the address. Where is it?"

"Oh," Hardison pulled himself away from the kitchen to wander over to the computers and pull up a geographic map of Boston. "Okay, the address Moors gave us leads to a…" he hesitated as he typed the address in and brought it up on the map. "Restaurant."

"A freezer would do the job," Parker noted and everyone turned to glance at her. "What?"

"Only if you wanted the man to freeze," Eliot said. He stole the spoon away from Catey to try the food again. "Just a little bit more-"

The teen stole the spoon back, whacked the back of his hand with it as he reached for a spice tub and waved the spoon in his face. "I'm cooking how I want to tonight."

"Alright, it's just-"

She hit his outstretched hand again and Eliot scowled at her before he retreated to a safe distance away. He ignored the chuckles and smirks Parker and Sophie threw his way. "Alright, what we'll do is…"

He paused as he stared at Catey's back. Nate glanced towards Eliot who cast a glance towards the teen then back to Nate. With a shrug he said, "It'll be fine."

Nate offered one more glance between father and daughter before he shrugged and turned back to the screen, "Okay, well, what we'll do is offer Rocco a trade; he leaves town and we don't hand him over."

"If we hand him over Moors and his family could be in danger."

"Not if we extradite him to, say, Germany where a lot of stuff I'm sure has been stolen, forged and resold back to them."

The microwave gave a ping and all eyes turned to Catey as she pulled out a stack of twelve wraps and placed them onto the table. "Food, is just about ready." She stepped back into the kitchen, placed the chicken in a large bowl with the spoon, a pot of salsa, sour cream, bowl of tomatoes and lettuce followed onto the table. "Fajitas." She said it with finality and Eliot wrapped an arm around his daughter's shoulders and placed a gentle kiss to her temple.

"Thank you darling."

"No telling me what needs to go in it either."

"Alright," Eliot held his hands up and grabbed a seat next to Catey and watched as everyone dived in. He held a smile as he watched people comment on the food. He let that night rid him of the thoughts of Rocco and of the thoughts that sooner or later, Caitlin's mother would come calling to take her back home.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **A little time skip but here's Eliot trying to fulfil the daddy role. There is at least one more chapter after this. Thank you to everyone who has been reading this and keeping up with it.

Eliot stared down in front of him, watching as Catey slowly stabbed at her food. Rocco was on the run; his guys had been picked up thanks to an anonymous tip from a not so anonymous Nate. The missing brother had been found in the back of the restaurant that Rocco had been using. The tip that Hardison had dropped into the Interpol's laps once Rocco started running, had resulted in the man being arrested in Germany.

"What's up?"

Catey's voice brought his attention away from the food she was stabbing and he lifted it to meet the sight of a pretty table waitress. "Nothing." He swung his attention back and offered her a smile. "What's up with you?"

They'd agreed to have a meal out somewhere, and Caitlin had chosen a place that was small and a little cosy. "Nothing." She shrugged her shoulders and fixed her gaze on her food. There was an odd silence between them and Eliot tried to figure out what was going on inside her head. "I don't want to go to Cali."

He sighed. This was one conversation he had been hoping to avoid. "Catey, you gotta go with your mum."

"But I don't want to move," she whined, landing pleading blue eyes on him. "My friends are here and I don't like _him_."

Eliot hunched over in his seat and leaned forward, his eyes doing a cautionary glance around the small diner they were in. One reason he didn't want Caitlin living with him, he couldn't kick his paranoia, couldn't shake the people out there who had it in for him. Part of him didn't know how to handle this, how to approach. He'd spent her life being on the fringes, staying far enough away to avoid connections but close enough to visit once in a while, just enough to keep him in her mind. "Catey…"

She slouched back into her seat, a glare forming on her face. "I don't have an opinion in this do I?" He offered her a small smile. Somehow, he could see this conversation going downhill. "Can I stay with you?"

That made him raise his brows. "No."

"But I know what you do now!"

"No Caitlin."

"Dad," she whined, slamming her elbows onto the table and settling her chin in her hands. "I don't wanna go back."

He sighed. He was doing a lot of that today. "Look, Catey," he began with trepidation. Settling his arms on the table he offered her a kind smile, "There are others out there like Rocco. I don't want to see you get hurt again."

She glanced up at him and through her hands muttered, "I won't. Cause you'll be there."

The smile that started to grow on his face couldn't be helped. Of course he would never let anything happen to her. "I know," he said. "But I don't want there to any chance at all that something could happen. Our job is dangerous. It gets bad at times."

"But I don't want to."

Eliot sighed, again, and decided to clamp his mouth shut. Her mind was already made up; she wanted to live with him. Deep down, he wanted her to live with him too, didn't want her to go back with her mother. But it was safer. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to see Hannah's name glaring at him. "Your mother," he told Caitlin as he answered the phone. "Yeah?... Of course she is…" he cast a glance to Catey and tapped the table, "Get your things. Come on." He dropped a ten on the table, passed Caitlin his keys as he stayed on the phone; "Look, Hannah, she really doesn't want to move."

"I know Eliot, but we can't stay."

"Are you coming to pick her up?" When he didn't get a response for a few seconds he sighed, "You're already here aren't you?"

"I'm sorry, I… I should've warned you."

"Yeah you should've," he muttered. He cast a glance towards his car to see Caitlin staring at him with confusion. He held a hand up, signalling he'd be there in a minute. "See you in a few." He hung up, made his way towards the car and grabbed his keys off Catey.

"Mum's already here isn't she?"

"Sorry kid," he said as he climbed into his car. He felt the change in mood from her; uninterested, unhappy, miserable, upset. He repeated the apology in his mind and started the engine. There was an odd silence on the drive back to Eliot's place. By the time they pulled up Caitlin had ducked her head and had her gaze fixed to the road. He patted her shoulder and turned the engine off, "Come on."

Eliot smiled kindly to Hannah, the blonde haired woman smiled back and turned her gaze to Caitlin. "Catey."

"Mum," she said with a small smile of her own. Eliot didn't miss the glare she threw to her mother's new boyfriend.

"Go get your stuff," Eliot said, handing her the keys and folding his arms across his chest. He followed Caitlin inside and left the door open for Hannah. When Caitlin disappeared into the bedroom he turned to the older woman, "Do you really have to move?"

Hannah looked at him with a frown, "I'm sorry. We've already sold the house, bought a new one, talked to a school about transferring her. I just, I'm sorry Eliot."

Eliot levelled a look with the man who lingered by the front door. He seemed like a decent guy, but Eliot knew that looks could be deceiving. He cast a look back, towards the bedroom and felt himself not wanting to let Catey go. "Hannah," he started and nodded his head towards the kitchen. The woman followed and Eliot set his hands on the table top, "If she really hates it are you planning on staying?"

Hannah sighed and rolled her eyes, "Eliot."

"Humour me."

Hannah shrugged her shoulders, "Both me and Connor have good jobs there. This is something big for us. If she doesn't like it? I don't know."

He held a hand up, showing four fingers, "Four months. If she doesn't like Cali after four months, she comes back and stays with me."

The look of shock that crossed her face made him smirk ever so slightly. But he was able to school his features as she spoke, "Eliot."

"Hannah. There's no point forcing her to live somewhere if she really hates it."

"The forms have already been out-"

"I'll fill them out again. Hannah?"

"Mum?" both parents turned to see Caitlin standing in the doorway with her rucksack on her bag. "Please?"

Hannah turned to glare at Eliot, "Thanks for putting me on the spot." She turned back to face their daughter with a smile. "Catey, look, I know you don't like the idea of moving across state, but can you please try to enjoy it? Give it a go?"

"Four months?"

"You'll do your best to have fun," Eliot said with a glare.

Caitlin glared back at her father and sighed. "Okay."

'Thank you' Hannah mouthed towards Eliot and made a start towards the door.

"Come here," Eliot said to Caitlin. He nodded to Hannah, a silent understanding that he'd only be a minute. Hannah left with her man and Eliot wrapped his arms around Caitlin's shoulder's and kissed the top of her head. "You try to have fun kid."

"Four months?"

"Catey," he warned.

"'Kay," she said and wrapped her arms around Eliot's waist. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too darling." No tears were shed, which Eliot was thankful for, but he sure as hell did hate having to let her go with her mother. When the door closed behind her he grabbed a beer from the fridge, gulped it down in a steady stream and put the bottle down with some force. His phone went then and he looked at it to see Nate's name on the screen, "Yeah Nate? I'm on my way."

He shoved thoughts of Caitlin and California out of his mind as he out the half-finished beer in the fridge, grabbed his keys and made a straight line for McRory's.


	13. Chapter 13

Their next job took the better part of a week. In Memphis. Nate had felt the tension in his hitter's shoulders from across the room that he couldn't help but worry for the men that Eliot had to hit that week. He felt the punches hit a little harder and the bruises deepen a little further. He didn't question the phone calls Eliot took late at night and the way the man's eyes were glaring ever so darker than normal towards his hacker.

Nate could tell the look of having to watch someone walk away; only it couldn't have been a woman. Eliot never hung around much for a woman to latch onto him. The only conclusion he could formulate was Caitlin.

Even on the flight home, Nate didn't question him, nobody did. They gave the man his space. Somehow, he knew they all sensed that something was wrong with the man. Nate decided to interrupt that space with a pleasant smile. Eliot barely batted an eye, considering he appeared to be sleeping, and said, "Nate."

"Eliot," a stewardess appeared and asked Nate if he needed anything. He waved the woman off with a gentle smile and settled further into the seat. "How's Caitlin doing?"

That question made the hitter crack his eyes and Nate could feel the glare. It was a known fact that Eliot kept his private life private and didn't like anyone to interrupt in it. The hitter continued his glare and gave a shrug. "Fine."

"She's gone back home hasn't she."

"Cali," Eliot mumbled.

Nate stared at the hitter, eyebrows raised. "As in California?" Eliot nodded and settled back into his seat, eyes closed once more. "That's a err, six hour flight right?" Eliot nodded once more, deciding to remain silent and Nate offered the man an unseen grimace. "I hear California's great this time of year."

"Nate," Eliot said, halting any and all words that were about to fall from the older man's lips. "I get what you're trying to do. Drop it."

Nate waited for a second, wondering he should try again, but he decided to nod. Eliot had had to put up with this before surely, so, if this was the man's way of dealing with it, then so be it. "Okay," he said and he moved back to his seat next to Sophie.

"Is he okay?"

"Yeah," Nate said with a smile. "He'll be fine."

Eliot had taken a cab straight from the airport, and he knew that his team were curious. He was silent, more than normal, and he knew he'd broken more bones then he'd usually have done. But nobody had said anything until Nate had on the flight back. He was thankful that the man had dropped it quickly, but knew that Parker would be bugging him at some point. When was anyone's guess.

He paid the cab, got out a couple of blocks away from his place (Paranoia forced him to) and walked the rest. He sighed when he got in, dropped his jacket on a hook and dropped his keys onto the counter in the kitchen.

When he grabbed the beer from out of his fridge he sighed and emptied the remainder of it down the sink; flat beer was a waste. Every time Caitlin had to leave he was always in a rut. He enjoyed spending time with her; being a father, but hated it when those moments ended. Part of him knew that it was better to be away from her; to keep her away from _him_. With a sigh he shoved his thoughts away and grabbed a fresh beer from his fridge.

The night was spent cooking himself a meal, drinking beer and sitting, relaxing any muscles that were bruised. By the time he felt tired enough to grab some sleep, he had finished three beers and felt only somewhat better about having to live on his own again.

The silence said otherwise and he forced himself to ignore the aching and to get into his bed. When he closed the door, a sigh letting his shoulders sag, he noticed the slip of paper on the dresser. One brow perked itself up and he picked it up. A smile tugged the corners of his mouth up and he felt his heart warm up at the picture in front of him. When he turned it over he felt himself feel better about the entire situation and he put the picture back down, the message face up; _I'll be back to colour it in. _

It was then that he got the all familiar phone call. With a chuckle he answered the call, a smile in his voice, "Catey, I thought we agreed you stopped calling me."

"I know, I know, I just, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to the picture with some people."

"Friends?"

"Maybe," she said a little uncertainly and Eliot chuckled. "I just, I don't know. I feel out of place."

"You just got there darling, of course you feel out of place. It takes a little getting used to."

A sigh echoed over the phone, "Kay, I'll try to have fun."

"You will, I promise." His eyes glanced over the piece of paper and he picked it up to look at the picture once more, "I found your picture."

"You like it?"

He smiled and nodded, letting his eyes look over the picture once more, "Course I love it. You got talent."

There was a hesitant "Thank you," from the other end of the line; Caitlin always did struggle to take compliments that related to her drawings. "I mean what I said it."

"I know darling. I know."

"Okay, I'll see you then. Love you."

"Love you too kiddo." When the line went dead he spent a few extra seconds to let his eyes look over the picture. With a smile still on his face he set the picture down, the message facing up again, and changed for bed.

When he appeared at the office the next day, Parker was sat, bowl of cereal in hand and a distinctive gaze fixed on him. He hated that look of hers. It was her _Somethings-bothering-you-and-i-know-it-you-know-it-I'll-know-what-it-is-soon _look. "Parker," he hissed, glare forming on his face. "Stop staring."

"Is it Caitlin?" Eliot only fixed her with a darker glare, which unfortunately had no effect. "I like her. She reminds me of you, but a smaller, younger you. Who isn't angry at everyone." A frown began to form on the thief's face now and Eliot quirked a brow. "I like her. She's not hurt is she?"

"No, Parker, she's fine."

"So why are you all angry and punchy." Eliot gave her a look and she added, "More angry and punchy?"

"I'm fine." He turned his back on her and ignored any further questions she held as Hardison grabbed everyone's attention and distracted Parker just enough to stop the questions. It left him enough room to think about the job and about the picture that sat on his dresser at home without worry plaguing his thoughts.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **A longer chapter than normal, but have some fluffy Eliot being a Dad stuff :D Just a few moments shared between father and daughter.

_He was in the middle of a heist when he got a call; "Eliot? Eliot Spencer?" It was Hannah telling him they needed to meet. Hannah from almost three years ago if he remembered rightly. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Two flights later and Eliot walked onto the local park. He found her sitting on a bench, eyes just watching the children on the swings, the climbing frames and on the grass mounds just playing. "I didn't think you'd come." _

_He shrugged, sat down next to her and let his eyes do a quick scan of the kids. "You said it was urgent."_

_Hannah ducked her head with a sigh and turned a shy smile towards him. "I thought you should know." _

_His eyes went back to the kids, the screaming, the laughing and he felt his heart clench in his chest. No way was he a father. No way. He opened his mouth to shake the thought away, readied his legs to stand, but a bundle of energy jumped up to Hannah at that point, tears streaming down her face. "Mu-mmy," she hiccupped between tears and managed out a few more words, "I- I- I fell and I- my- my knee hurts- bad." _

"_Oh sweetie," Hannah said as she picked the small child up and sat her between Eliot and herself. The head of brown hair leaned against her mother's shoulders and Eliot wanted to run. "Let me take a look." _

_The girl rubbed her eyes with both hands, blinked open two blue teary eyes and peered down as her mother bent down in front of her. Hannah pulled the dirty leg of the blue jeans up and made a sad face at the scraped knee. "Oh Catey," she hissed. A moment later she placed several kisses to the area and looked up with a smile. "Better?" _

_The girl nodded and wiped at her eyes a little more and turned to give Eliot a suspicious look. "Can I go play now?"_

_The look didn't go amiss to Hannah and she laughed, "Honey, I want you to meet a friend of mine. Eliot. Eliot, this is Caitlin Morgan. Say hi Catey." _

_Catey rubbed her eyes and said, "Hi mister Eliot." _

"_Hello darling," Eliot said with a small kind smile of his own. _

"_Can I go play mummy?"_

"_Yes sweetie you can." _

_Eliot watched the kid jump off the bench and make her way towards the climbing frame. Something about the way she threw herself back onto the frame, climbed to the top and dangled from it made him worry. "You sure?" _

_Hannah sighed as she sat back down and turned her body; one leg perched over the other, one arm rested on the back of the bench, and smirked up at him, "I'm sure Eliot. Turning three in a week." Now her eyes turned back to her daughter – _their _– daughter something in his mind told him and she let another sigh go. "She's been asking about her Daddy, been wondering where he is and why he isn't around." _

Three years. _Eliot's mind was just able to keep track of the conversation and he kept his eyes fixed to the young girl. "What'd you say?"_

_There was a shrug from the corner of his eyes and she said, "I said her Daddy's busy keeping people safe." That made him twist his head away from Catey to stare at her. "Don't think I didn't notice the scars, the bruises or that tat mister." _

_There was an odd chuckle to her voice and Eliot somehow found it uneasy how she'd given _their_ kid a lie about what he did. But at least there was some comfort; Catey didn't have to know what he actually did. "You're welcome to come," Hannah turned her gaze towards the retrieval specialist with a soft smile. "She'd like it." _

_He turned up a week later, stomach doing backflips and cartwheels in his gut. The last time he'd felt this…. anxious, he used the word lightly, was when he'd had a gun pointed at him for the first time. Hannah had told him that a present wasn't necessary, just bring himself and that was fine. But he'd gone out and gotten her a small doodle pad; he had no idea what she liked, what she was into or anything. _

_When he arrived, it was with a few fresh bruises hidden beneath his shirt; a short and quick job to keep himself busy during the week; but none that were visible. Hannah opened the door with a sincere smile; "You came." _

_He nodded, forced a smile on his face and stepped into the small house. He was thankful that the woman hadn't chosen to throw some kind of party for the kid. Having to face Catey in front of everyone would have sent the man running, he was certain, and not a nothing sent Eliot Spencer running. _

_Hannah guided him into the living room to see Catey sat in a pile of wrapping paper, toys and clothes. There were even a few biscuits lying around here and there. "Catey, you remember Eliot right?" _

_The girl stopped playing with the fire truck somebody had bought her and nodded with a smile. "From the park. Hi mister." _

"_Hey little darling," he offered back. After a few moments of the girls gaze he held his present out to her, "You mum told me it was your special day so I got you something." _

_The girl jumped to her feet, the red truck forgotten and stopped at his feet, arms outstretched. "Pressie!"_

"_Catey," _

_Her mum gave a stern warning and the girl tucked her arms behind her back and looked up at Eliot with wide blue eyes, "Thank you Mister Eliot." _

_Eliot could only chuckle as he handed the wrapped gift over. "No problem." Catey tore into the paper, exclaimed her thanks and set to work grabbing some colours and beginning to draw. The smile that crept onto his face couldn't be helped and he watched her begin to draw; tongue stuck out in concentration and eyes fixed on the white paper in front of her. Eliot pulled his gaze away to look at Hannah and he motioned to move out of the living room. "Have you told her?"_

"_I was leaving that part up to you."_

"_What?"_

_Hannah sighed with an odd smirk, "Honestly? I didn't expect you to want to meet her." _

_The next words out of his mouth fell without warning and he gave the woman an intent look, "Why wouldn't I?" _

_Hannah fixed him with a stern glare, "You weren't expecting anything more than a one night stand that night and we both know it." _

_Those words stopped him in his tracks, left him speechless until small footfalls that belonged to a tiny two foot girl entered the hallway. She held up a piece of paper towards Eliot. "I made you a thank you card," she said._

_He took it with a smile, "Thanks darling." At her insistent blue gaze he looked at the folded paper before him. On the front was a rainbow, a sun with a smile and a picture of what he guessed was a fire truck with a little girl next to it. On the inside was another stick man figure, this time he guessed it was him. Above him it said in badly written crayon; THANK YOU. Underneath it said, LOVE CATEY X X. "Wow, it's beautiful girl." Catey beamed at him and pounced back into the living, picked up the fire truck and began playing with it again. As he turned his gaze back down to the picture in his hand he nodded to Hannah, "I'll tell her." _

_An awkward fifteen minute conversation later, with Eliot telling Hannah he needed to get going, he had Catey hanging off of one leg, "When will I see you again?"_

_Eliot flicked his eyes up to Hannah, who gave the two a moment alone, and knelt down to meet her at eye level, "I'll be back when I get some time off work. I promise darling." _

_Catey clung to his neck, dug her face into his shoulder and although her shout was muffled he easily made out the, "Don't go Daddy." _

_He rubbed circles on her back and placed a hesitant kiss to her cheek. "I'll be back, I promise." _

_It was six months later, nearing Christmas, when he called ahead to see Catey again. In that time he'd beaten people up, got a few bruises himself and had been stabbed once. In that time, he'd learnt that Catey liked chocolate ice cream, puppies and that her favourite colour was red. Hannah had called him only a week after he'd left, Catey had wanted to talk to him and interrogate him. What he'd said had been vague, what she had said hadn't. _

_When he turned up it was Catey who answered the door. She slammed herself into his legs; earning a suppressed wince from Eliot, and had shouted, "Daddy!" _

"_Hey darling," he noted the pyjamas she was wearing and picked her up, placed her on his hip and closed the door, shutting out the oncoming cold. "Where's your mama at?" _

_Hannah appeared a moment later, a surprised smile on her face. "Eliot." _

"_Hannah." _

"_Can you do me a favour and look after her for the day? I need to quickly cover for somebody whose come down with the flu."_

_His face dropped. He didn't know what to do. "What?" _

"_Please? Her sitter's ill too." _

"_Please Daddy? Please stay? Please?" the pouting blue eyes made him crumble and he nodded. Hannah had given him instructions on what to do; bedtime, bath time, medicines in case she needed them, emergency phone contact, the works, before she left. _

_By the time she came back Eliot had to admit, he was tired. Between chasing the girl, keeping up with her energy, trying to get her into bed, read stories, pick up toys after her, it had tired him out. He placed a kiss to the sleeping girl's head as he left and said he'd call next time he got a chance to come round. _

_At ten years old her favourite word had become no. "Catey go to bed," "No!" "Catey put your toys away," "No!" "Catey listen to your mother," "No!" "Catey bath time," "No!" "No!" "No!" Eliot reminded himself to keep his patience, that she was just a kid. Hannah had warned him before he'd gone round and he decided to do some cooking when he arrived. Hannah looked worn out from the constant arguing and had said she was going out. "Fair enough," he'd said. _

_The moment Hannah left Catey cosied up to Eliot in the kitchen, her hands hanging onto the counter, trying to see what he was doing. He pulled the ingredients out of the plastic bag he'd brought with him one by one and placed them down in front of her. "What you making?" _

"_What _are_ you making," he corrected and he set the chocolate chip cookies close to her watching eyes. "I am going to make cookies Catey." _

"_Can I help?" _

"_No." _

_He moved about the kitchen, gathering up spoons, bowls and trays. "What?"_

"_You heard me," he said as he brought them back to his pile of goods. "You can't help."_

"_Why not? Please? Please? I promise to be good."_

_He spared her a look, pulled a face and shook his head. "No." _

"_Please daddy! Please!"_

_He frowned. "The more you shout the more I say no." _

_In a quiet voice she tried again, "Daddy, please can I help you make cookies?" _

"_No." _

_The girl pouted, pulled her face at him, even started to cry and Eliot resisted. His nephew had gone through exactly the same phase and his sister had needed help then to erase the whole "No" stage. "Come here," he picked her up, sat her on the counter and settled his hands on either side of her. "Listen to me Catey, you're going to sit there and watch me make cookies." When she opened her mouth to reply he held a finger up, "No, you're going to sit and watch and think about why I'm saying no. You got that?" With a frown she nodded, put her hands in her lap and watched him weigh out ingredients, mix them and even taste the mixture before he put the cookies in the oven. "Well?" he said when he started cleaning away the dirty pots._

"'_Cause I say no to mummy?"_

"_So what are we going to stop doing?" _

"_Saying no to mummy." _

"_That's my girl," he pushed the not quite empty packet of chocolate chips in her direction and nodded with a smile. Catey took a small handle and ate them with a smile. He finished cleaning the pots, checked on the cookies and took them out. He placed them onto a tray, told Catey no when she asked for one and waited for them to cool down for two minutes before he handed her one. _

"_Yummy!" She shouted. For the rest of the night he didn't hear a single no and when he was about to leave, Hannah asking how it went, he promised Catey more cookies if she behaved. _

_He needed to see Catey. He grabbed a flight straight back to the States, booked a cab and jumped out. A couple of knocks later and Hannah answered, dressed in a dressing gown and long pyjamas. "Eliot, it's one in the morning. She's asleep. What do you want?" _

_If she noticed the heavy weight that tensed his shoulders, she didn't mention it. If she noticed the cut on his cheek, she didn't say anything. She just took in his silent appearance, mysterious and quiet stance and felt the need radiating off of him. She stepped to the side and closed the door after him. "What happened?" _

_He shook his head and dug his hands into his pockets. He didn't want to trust his voice, couldn't quite find the words to tell her how bad his recent job had been. She didn't even know what he did for a living. He just shook his head again and nodded his head to Caitlin's room. Hannah nodded and pulled her gown further around her. _

_Eliot nodded, muttered a thanks and shuffled his way down the hall. He pried the door open and watched as she scrunched up her face, turned over and settled back down. Part of him didn't want to disturb her, but he just needed to hold her. _

_Moreau. _

_The worst job he'd ever done and he just wanted to forget about it. He moved into the room and perched himself on the edge of her bed. She didn't notice, didn't pull herself awake and Eliot struggled to even put a hand on her shoulder. When he looked at his hand, hovering above her shoulder, he saw blood. And lots of it. _

_With a sigh he retreated his hand and brought himself back up. He couldn't even kiss the top of her head. Shame filled him up and he closed the door, cursed himself and moved back towards the front door. "Eliot, are, are you okay?" _

_Eliot shifted unsettled eyes towards her and shook his head. "No." He said nothing else, just turned and left. _

_Just as he was about to punch somebody his phone rang. But he couldn't answer. He let it go to voicemail as he fought the bunch of guys surrounding him in order to have a clear path to the exit. It rang once more throughout his fight and when he got a chance to look at his phone it was to see Caitlin's name on the screen. He called her back immediately, "Hey darling what's the problem?"_

_One of the downed men took that moment to threaten Eliot in Russian then and Eliot kicked the man out to stop him from reaching for his gun. "Was, was that Russian?" Fourteen year old Catey asked. _

"_TV, what'd you want?" _

_There was silence for a minute and she sighed, "Mum's got a boyfriend." He listened, waiting for her to elaborate on why that was so bad. "I don't want her to have a boyfriend." _

_Eliot ducked out the way of the sight of a few more men and grabbed the car keys from his pocket. "Catey, your mum's allowed to date people." _

_"But I don't want him to be my Dad." _

_He had to chuckle at that. "Ain't anybody going to replace me darling. If he makes your mum happy what's the problem?"_

_There was a slight hesitation in her voice before she answered, "What if he tries to be my Dad?"_

"_Well," he stopped. Something at the back of his mind began to worry too. What if? "He's not your Dad. But," he stretched as he started up the car, "Be good. For your mum." _

"_Fine. When are you next round?" _

"_I don't know darling. I'll let you know." _

"_Kay. Love you."_

"_Love you too Catey." _

_It was a stupid argument, just something that was small and stupid. But it stung him. His mind ran through the argument, beginning with her point; "How can you be my dad when you're never around?" _

"_Catey, you know I have a job to do."_

_Fifteen year old Caitlin glared back at him and folded her arms. "And what happens when I try to call you? I get voicemail!" _

"_That's because I'm busy working to help people. You know that!" _

"_One phone call is all I ask!"_

"_Catey!"_

"_At least Henry's there whenever I need to talk to a man!"_

"_Hey!" That comment hurt. Just a year ago she refused to even pretend to like the guy. "I am a man and I am here whenever you need to talk to me." He was glaring too now and he was close to damn near yelling at her. _

"_Sure looks that way Dad. The last time I managed to get through to you on the phone was almost a year ago!" _

"_God dammit!" he yelled and he turned, clenched his fists by his side and turned when he was somewhat calmer. "Catey look, I got a new job coming up in Boston. Okay? I am here for you. I am _always _here for you and you know that." _

"_You say that now."_

"_I mean it," he ground out, trying hard to keep his voice calm. _

"_I shouldn't have to try again two days later just to talk to you. Who does that?" _

"_I'm trying my best Catey."_

"_It sure looks that way." _

"_Catey!" _

"_Why are never around?!" At his pause and his incredulous look she carried on. "I only see you occasionally and what if I want to see you more? You always say you can't and I don't understand why!" _

"_Because, I can't. I'm sorry about that, but I can't." He swore he heard her swear underneath her breath and he glared at her. "Don't you use that kind of language with me." _

"_You don't have a right to tell me what to do. You're not around enough for that!" Those were her words as she stormed into her bedroom, door slamming. Eliot did his best not to yell or slam a door himself. Two days later and she was still pissed at him and he was still pissed at her. He left; Nate needed him for a job and he couldn't hang around any longer without the team growing suspicious. _

_He received a phone call two days later, whilst Parker had juror duty. He took his ear bud out and answered the call away from anyone else. "Hey darling." The tears on the other end made the fury in Eliot flare up. "Catey, what's wrong?"_

"_I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't mean it."_

_The anger in him was still there, penting up. He didn't think that their argument would result in her crying. "I know darling, I know. You upset about that?" _

"_No, I erm," she sniffed and Eliot pulled the phone away at that awful sound. "I got a maths test back today and I erm, I failed it, and I also failed my biology test and then Ryan said he couldn't see me anymore and I just, I don't know." _

_Another flood of tears entered the line and Eliot cringed away from the phone. He could never handle females when they cried. After a few moments he put the phone back to his ear and tried to shush her. "Look darling it's fine. Ryan wasn't any good for you anyway. Guy couldn't look me in the eye. If a man can't look me in the eye, he don't deserve you you understand?" _

_There was a faint chuckle from the other end of the line now and he swore he heard her nod. "Yeah." _

"_And you can always retake those tests right? Just study a little harder okay darling?" _

"_Yeah, I guess. Thank you." _

"_Anytime darling." _

"_Anytime." There was a shout and he listened to her sniffle once more and then turn back to the line, "I got to go. Mum's shouting me." _

"_Alright Catey, love you." _

"_Love you too." _


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: **Okay, so, I'm updating daily by the looks of it; which means that this fic shall most likely end soon. What I might do is write a few one shots about Caitlin and Eliot, in fact, I already have a second fic/series of one shots in mind.

Month four rolled around much sooner than Eliot thought and his phone was still silent for that morning. He tried not to let himself get disappointed by the silence he'd received. It'd happened before. Nate gave the team a few days off and Eliot did what he did best; found a bar, flirted, and went back to a woman's place that night.

It was in the morning when he noticed the voicemail from Nate, telling him that a team meeting was needed. He thanked the woman, bid her goodbye and grabbed his jacket and keys and left. On the way to Nate's apartment/the office, he grabbed a change of clothes and a quick shower.

It was when he reached the door that he noted Hardison's exclamation of, "Oh girl that is _not_ funny."

"Kind of is," Parker said.

"Don't encourage the cheater."

"Is it even possible to cheat at this game?"

He narrowed his brows. Caitlin? The hell? He opened the door and just stood for a few moments staring at the screens. Hardison and Parker sat on the couch and next to Parker's other side sat a head of brown hair. Nate and Sophie were sat at the counter, just watching the Hardison play. "Caitlin?"

The teenager nodded her head and said, "Gimme two minutes to beat Hardison, dammit!"

Nate laughed and Parker threw a look over her shoulder, "Apparently Catey's never played this before. She's pretty good at it."

"I thought you were in Cali?"

"I was," she said and Eliot watched on screen as two… things, characters, on bikes were driven round a track by Hardison and Catey. "Didn't like it."

Eliot moved to sit on the other side of Caitlin, perched on the couch arm and watched as one of the characters shoved another one off into a pit of nothing. "Yes!" "Damn girl!" "Why," he started, somehow entranced to watch the colourful characters race on screen. "didn't you call?"

"I did."

"No you didn't."

"I did, from, yes, from the airport. My battery died. Mum will calling soon to make sure I reached you." She waved a hand in the general direction of the plug socket on the other side of the room. He twisted his vision to look at the phone. "I got voicemail, so I tried your place and you weren't there. Came here, Nate let me stay the night."

Eliot turned his gaze to take in his daughter's appearance and felt a frown form. The shorts she wore were too big to be hers, and he didn't recognise them. The shirt he didn't mind, she'd taken that years ago from him; a plain blue t-shirt that covered her up enough to keep her warm. But the shorts. "I don't recognise them."

Caitlin didn't even turn her head away, but shrugged and kept her gaze on the big TV, "I needed something to wear, Hardison was kind enough to lend me them." Eliot's gaze flicked back onto the screen and he watched as 1st place was granted to a Yoshi and Caitlin threw her arms up. "Take that King Boo."

"Oh it is on," Hardison muttered as he clicked through the screens a few times until the music for a new race began.

Caitlin turned her gaze towards her now ringing phone, "Can you?" She batted her eyes up at her Dad who messed with her hair and grabbed her phone. "Thank you! Hardison, Birdo's going to take you down."

"Oh come on," the older man shouted, "Why do you have to use Birdo?"

"Hey Hannah, yeah she's here, she's fine, yeah of course, erm, she's playing, what, what is that?"

"Mario Kart," both Caitlin and Hardison replied in unison as Hardison's character flattened Caitlin's character.

"Mario Kart," Eliot said back into the phone. "See you." He put the phone down and shook his head at Caitlin and Hardison and made his way towards where Nate and Sophie were sat. "So this is the big team meeting."

Nate offered him a smirk and shrugged one shoulder, "Well she was getting worried about you."

Sophie smirked up at the hitter, "And I'll warn you, you'll have to do that," she waved a finger in his direction, "thing a lot less now otherwise she'll get suspicious."

Eliot frowned now, "I know what I'm doing Sophie."

Sophie shrugged and found interest in her cup, "I'm just saying. She's getting to the age where boys are interesting and I mean other than their personalities and favourite music."

That comment made him look over towards the screen, made him glare at the teenager and a slight growl to emanate from his chest. "Not til she's thirty."

There was an odd chuckle from the pair at the counter and Eliot turned his eyes towards the pair, "Thanks," he said to the older man.

Nate shrugged and turned his eyes back to the screen, "It was nothing, she pretty much took care of herself."

The gaming session carried on for a few more races before Nate called quits and Eliot told Caitlin to get dressed. "Can I teach her to pick locks?"

"No."

"To pick pockets?"

"No Parker. You are not turning my daughter into a thief." The thief's face turned into a frown and she stood next to the father, staring at him with a frown. "Parker," he said, glancing at her. She kept staring at him with a pout and Eliot shook his head, crossed his arms and looked at anywhere but the thief. "I said no Parker."

"I promise to teach her to pick bad people."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

That was the argument that Caitlin came downstairs to and Eliot pushed himself away from the counter, "Where's your stuff?" Caitlin pointed to a space behind one of the chairs and Eliot grabbed it. "Come on," he nodded to his team as Caitlin said her goodbye's and carried her bag to his car. "I thought you liked Cali."

"Meh," she shrugged her shoulders and climbed in, "The guys are all the same, it's too hot and the girls are all the same too. I don't know," she shrugged again and turned a smile towards him, "It's just not the same as Boston."

Eliot chuckled, started the engine and nodded. He asked her what she'd done and the rest of the journey was spent with her telling him about what she'd been doing for the past four months.

* * *

A month down the line and Eliot wanted his bed back. Caitlin had been sleeping in it whilst he'd slept on the couch and now, he wanted it back. Whilst she was getting dressed he asked Sophie and Parker if they could have a 'girly' day out, he'd pay for it, as long as Hardison and Nate helped him set up a bedroom for Caitlin.

He was surprised by the eagerness of the girls and when he told Caitlin that Sophie and Parker wanted a girl day out with her, she half shrugged and said, "Why not?"

When the girl's had left Eliot took a trip to the DIY store, Nate and Hardison in tow. "How does she not have a room?" Hardison asked and Eliot merely glared at the man, adding a comment about he'd never expected her to stick around for more than a week.

That silenced the hacker long enough to pick out a bed, to be delivered a few days later, a set of curtains and a set of drawers, wardrobe, and desk that they loaded into Hardison's van. The only thing that came into conflict was paint. What's her favourite colour? Red, I ain't painting her room red. Yeah you don't want to do that. Blue? I don't know. Green? I don't know! Let's leave it. I'll let her decide. Yeah probably best.

The next six hours were spent drinking beer, coffee, building, swearing and moving furniture around. The three girls turned up as the boys took a seat on the couch, a beer in hand with a look of relief across each man's face. "Hey girl," Hardison said.

Parker took that moment to jump onto the couch next to Hardison and pulled from her bag a mass of ropes, pulleys and rigs. "I needed a new rig set."

"Did you buy anything else?"

Parker pulled out a large geek t-shirt, "Sophie said I should buy you something since she got Nate something and Catey got Eliot something."

"You got me something?"

Catey only shrugged and put the handful of bags down on the floor by the side of the couch. "What's with the meeting?"

Eliot sighed, pulled himself up and waved Caitlin over to the door that lead to what would be her bedroom. "Well, I figured you couldn't sleep in my bed forever, so, erm," he opened the door and stuck his hands into his pockets, allowing the silence to tell her what he wanted to say. "Erm, I didn't know what colour you wanted to paint it, so I left it for you to decide."

There were no words, only actions as Caitlin turned and practically jumped at her father, wrapping her arms around his neck. He could only chuckle, his arms going around her waist, "Glad you like it darling."

"I love it," she mumbled and finally she withdrew herself just enough to ask, "Do I get a lock on my door?"

He pushed her away then and frowned. He could feel the team wondering, everyone curious as to where this conversation was going. "What in the hell do you need a lock for?"

"Am I allowed to bring boys over?"

If Sophie dared to say the words, Told you so, he'd kill her. Okay, he wouldn't actually kill her, but he'd sure damn feel like doing it. "The only boys in this house are me, Nate and Hardison."

Caitlin's face fell into a fit of laughter and he heard Sophie laugh behind him. He only frowned further and folded his arms across his chest. After a moment Caitlin steadied herself and kept a smirk on her face as she said, "Only if they can look you in the eye then?"

A slight smirk of his own began to work and he shrugged, "We'll see. But only if they can."

She hung around his neck again and kissed his cheek, "Love you Dad."

"Yeah, yeah," he said with a smile, "Love you too Catey."


	16. Chapter 16

It still felt weird to see Caitlin pottering about his place at seven in the evening, still felt odd to say good night to her. But he enjoyed it. He enjoyed having her around and just listening to her talk on about school, friends and activities and he just enjoyed not being alone. That was one thing Eliot Spencer didn't admit; that sometimes, he just hated being alone. It was also a nice change to have food ready for either him or the team included.

He felt comfortable in his fatherly duties; up until she mentioned a party, out of the blue one week whilst the team were in the middle of a job. "No," he had insisted, keeping his eyes fixed on his team mates as they thought about their next course of action.

"I won't drink, flirt or walk off with any kind of guy I promise."

Eliot passed her a glance and shook his head with a shrug, "No. Everyone else won't be making those promises."

"Dad," she whined, "It's one party. Come on."

"And is it supervised?"

"Probably not. Dad, I'm almost eighteen alright. I can take of myself."

"And," he said, twisting his body to begin a glare at her, "I know that. I still don't want you going to it."

Caitlin made a growl and grabbed her rucksack off the counter, muttered something about 'going to the damn library' and almost slammed the door on her way out. There was silence from the room and Eliot turned his glare towards his team. "She's going to sneak out," Sophie said. He quirked his brow at her and she shrugged, "Oh come on Eliot. You were her age once I imagine you went out and had fun and partied at unsupervised parties."

"Things have changed since then Sophie." Nate stopped any more discussions on the matter and drove everyone's attention to him with a plan.

When Eliot got home, a fresh bruise beginning to burn his cheek, he found Caitlin curled up in her room reading a book. "Hey," he said.

She didn't even glance up, just said an uninterested, "Hi" and carried on reading.

He didn't say anything, just shook his head and moved to sit on the edge of her bed. That made her look up, raise a curious brow at his growing bruise and simply give him a look. "Is this about that party?"

Caitlin frowned now and sighed. "It's one party. Can I please go?"

Eliot paused, stared at her. In all honesty he'd been thinking about her all, about the party and under what terms he'd allow her to go. He'd asked Hardison for a spare ear bud that would only be linked to his; Nate told him that asking her to wear an ear bud was a breach of trust. So he'd thought some other way to make himself happy with the idea. "On the conditions," he started and he watched her face study him, waiting for his next words. "I pick you up; you do not smoke, do not drink _way_ too much and I mean you can have one or two drinks. Not five or ten. And you don't wear something that shows too much."

A smile erupted and Caitlin sat up, crossed her legs and put her book to one side. "Really? I can go?"

He nodded with a slight frown. "If you agree."

"Yeah, of course."

He felt himself smile, a little reluctantly and he reached an arm out, "Come here." She wrapped her arms around his chest and smiled into his shoulder.

It was only eight yet he couldn't stop pacing the living room. He'd said she had til ten, but he couldn't stop his pacing, couldn't stop his worrying and constant thinking of scenarios that could be happening to her. Something at the back of his mind forced himself to stop pacing, to maybe cook some food, practice some forms, do anything but worry. She could look after herself, he knew that.

With tense shoulders, he decided to cook a lasagne for two.

That only took him nearly forty minutes and he was beginning to check his phone every two minutes just to see if he'd missed a call or a text. Nothing.

Feeling himself only get more and more paranoid, he decided to read a book. Concentrate on reading the book and nothing else.

Before he knew it Caitlin was calling him; "Is it okay if we drop a friend off on the way?"

He furrowed his brow but didn't say a word, only nodded, put his book down and grabbed his jacket and keys, "Sure."

When he pulled up to the house the party was out, he was welcomed by a commotion outside. Caitlin stood with a girl behind her, being held by another. There was a boy stood opposite her, arguing with her by the looks of it. And it seemed to had gathered quite the crowd. He put the handbrake on and watched the scene unfold before him; the boy stepped forward, grabbed Caitlin's wrist and she span, right fist connecting with his nose. "Crazy bitch!"

"Oh fuck you!" she shouted back.

Eliot jumped out of the car, slammed the door shut and made his way between the pair before a full blown fight took place as they went for each other. He grabbed Caitlin by the arm and pushed her back and towards the car, "Go."

It was an order and any other time she would've listened. But this time something drove her to stand her ground and glare at the boy behind Eliot. The kid made a comment about her friend and he had half a mind to just let her go for him; no man should be raised to talk to or about a girl in such a filthy way. "Car! Go. Now."

He marched behind her, watching as she carried her friend to the backseat of the car and fasten herself in. He sighed before he climbed in. It looked like the girl was drunk, and not in the good way. The car ride home was a silent one and he kept his eyes glancing back to see Caitlin rubbing circles on the other girl's back, which he now realised was crying. "Catey, what happened?"

She shook her head and just kissed the top of the other girl's head in the way a mother would a daughter. He let the matter drop for now and listened to her instructions in order to get Emma home.

He watched from the car as Caitlin guided her friend home, rung the bell, talked to the parents and dropped herself back into the passenger seat. He cast a glance in her direction, one brow cocked in a silent question. The teen sighed as Eliot began the journey home. "She said no, he wouldn't let go."

He almost kicked the brakes at that comment, but he did tighten his grip on the steering wheel and let out a low growl which even made Caitlin jump. The rest of the journey was silent and when they got home Eliot spent a few minutes just holding Caitlin. She returned the favour even more so, burying her face in his shoulder. "Come on," he said, pulling her away to take a hold of her hand. "Let's put some ice on that before it bruises." She followed and he pulled out the ice he kept on hand and wrapped it in a towel. "That was a hell of a right hook."

She let out a laugh and looked up with a smirk, "I have a good teacher."

He gripped her in another hug and swore he'd never let her go to another party again. She agreed and he made a mental note to get the kid's name and pay him or his parent's a visit.


	17. Chapter 17

Ryan Tanner. Son of public judge Edgar Tanner. Several cases of assault swept under the rug or somehow the cases just fell to pieces. The kid was nineteen, held back for failing senior year. The house the Tanner's lived in was well done; suitably made for such a luxurious lifestyle. Eliot's phone rang as he stood, simply watching. "Yeah Nate?"

"We got a job."

"I'll be there," he said. He hung up, glared at the house for a little longer and decided to knock on the front door. He waited for a total of thirty seconds before somebody answered. The broken nose and bruising face made him want to grin. _That's my girl,_ he thought. With schooled features he said, "Can I talk to Edgar Tanner please?"

Ryan narrowed his eyes and glared at Eliot, folded his arms across his chest and hissed, "You're that guy who picked Caitlin up the other night. You tell that bitch-"

Eliot felt his hands curl into fists. "Hey!" he yelled, "Let me talk to your damn Dad."

"Why should I let you in?"

"What seems to be the problem here?" An older gentlemen with thick black hair; gelled back, and cruel brown eyes pushed Ryan out of the way.

"Sir, I was asking your son if I could just have a moment of your time."

Edgar nodded and opened his door wider. Eliot stepped in, delivered a withering glare to Ryan and followed the older man to a sitting room. Already he was uncomfortable; he didn't fail to notice the security cameras or the body guards that lurked in the background, just beyond the edges of the room. Edgar took a seat in a thick leather seat and Eliot decided to remain standing. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Your son Sir." Edgar frowned and Eliot felt his own frown root its way into his own features. "My daughter had to pull a friend away from him at a party a few nights ago. She said that her friend had said no to going with him and that he refused."

The expression on Edgar's face darkened, Eliot remained with a frown. "Mr-"

"Spencer."

Edgar gave him a curious glance and nodded, "Mr Spencer, I assure you my son has been properly apprehended for the situation, as you can clearly see." Eliot glanced towards Ryan's face, the bruising telling the story.

"I don't believe you understand me Tanner," Eliot took one step closer to the older man, provoking armed security to step into the room. He ignored the men and said, "He's done this before and he's gonna carry on doing this because you cover it up. I'm warning you, if you don't stop protecting your son, you're going to pay for it."

There was an odd laugh, almost nervous, "Is that a threat Mr Spencer?"

Eliot shook his head. "A warning." He didn't wait for a response, didn't wait to see the expression either father or son wore, just turned around, walked out the place and closed the door behind himself. He let out a deep breath and let another glare reach the house. His phone buzzed; a text from Parker asking where he was. He told her he was on his way as he jumped to his car and started the engine.

The four day job took his mind off the situation for a short while. Parker had noticed something off with him, again, and had bugged him until he snapped and told her to "Knock it off." When they finished the job; a group of faulty bankers in prison, he returned home to the sound of angry muttering. He frowned. It was definitely Catey, but she never sounded angry, at least not this pissed. "Catey?"

There was silence for a few long seconds before the door to her room opened and she looked at him, frown in place. "Yeah?"

He growled. He curled his fists. He felt the anger build up inside his gut. "Who did that?"

She shrugged away his question about the black eye and quirked a smirk, "You should see the other person?"

Eliot growled again. "Catey."

She sighed and shrugged again. "It's, it's nothing."

"This," he nodded to her face, "Isn't nothing."

She sighed again and turned towards the kitchen. "Ryan's one of the 'cool' kids or whatever. The new kid punching him in the face isn't exactly something anyone'd like."

"That doesn't mean they get to punch you."

"I punched them back!"

"I'm calling your teacher." Caitlin sighed and turned back into her room, closing the door behind her. Eliot stared at the wooden door for several long seconds before he growled and grabbed a beer from the fridge. For the rest of the night, he barely saw her; only for her to grab a drink and go to the bathroom.

Parker appeared at twelve, a frown on her face. "Did you hurt Catey?"

Somehow he didn't question her sudden appearance or how she got in. There had been previous times when she'd appeared, either to bug him or to be bugged because she felt down. The question made him pull a face and simply stare. "No Parker! I didn't hurt Catey."

That seemed to make the Thief perk up slightly. "So who hit her face?"

He sighed and chucked back half the beer. "Someone at school."

"Kids do that? Really? Is she okay? I mean, shouldn't you talk to her or, or-"

"Yeah kids do that apparently and I tried, she shut herself in all night."

Parker pulled a face and looked towards the teen's door with a sigh. Without warning she pounced towards it and swung it open. Eliot spluttered on his drink as Parker flicked the light on and smiled whilst saying, "Catey! Catey! Catey!"

"What Parker!"

Eliot watched as Parker fell onto the edge of Caitlin's bed and sighed heavily. "You're hurt. I don't like it when you're hurt cause then Eliot's all mean and grumpy and he's no fun."

Caitlin blinked up at her and sighed, shoved her hands underneath her pillow and turned her head away from the blonde. "I'm fine and Dad just get likes that."

"Can I hurt them?"

"I already did," she said through her pillow and Parker smiled.

She stood and turned the light off, "Just like Eliot," she muttered and she closed the door and made her way back to Eliot. He still stood, just staring at the Thief like she had grown a second head. "The hell was that?"

"She's fine Eliot. Will you stop being grumpy now?"

"I'm not grumpy." Parker only looked at him and he raised his hands, "I'm not!" After a moment the Thief made a sound, nodded her head and left through the front door. Eliot shook his head and finished off his beer and checked in on Caitlin. A light snore let him know that she had quickly fallen back asleep. With any luck she might forget that Parker had turned up.

He checked his watch; twelve thirty. With quiet footsteps he left his place, climbed into his car and drove out to the Tanner place. The lights were out when he arrived and he found it easy to slip in through the back door. The room he was after was Edgar's room. With any hope, the man would be scared enough to keep his son from causing more trouble.

He flicked the older Tanner's bedroom light on and stood, leaning against the doorframe with a glare on his face. Edgar sat up with a start, made to grab the baseball bat by the side of his bed and stare at Eliot. "Mr Spencer! What are you doing here!"

Eliot pushed himself off the door, hands in his pockets as he stepped closer. "You need to keep Ryan and his friends under control. If I find out anyone else is getting hurt because of your son, I will be back and I will be less kind about it." Edgar made a swing with the bat and Eliot caught the bat, tugged it free and laughed at Edgar. "Nice try Mr Tanner," he waved the bat in Edgar's face and swung it against the bedside lamp. He glared, pointed the pat at Edgar again and almost shouted, "Keep your son under control!"

With that he dropped the bat and walked out the house with not a sound.

The next day, when Caitlin walked into McRory's bar with a frown, she passed an uncertain stare back towards Parker as she made her way to Eliot. When she turned to look at him she was curious. "Did you… do something?"

"Girl what happened to your face?"

He took his shot at the pool table, making Hardison curse, and shrugged his shoulders, "Like what?"

Caitlin ignored Hardison's question, ignored the looks Sophie and Nate were surely giving her and folded her arms across her chest, "Ryan apologised. Something about being wrong?"

"Sounds like he finally got his head screwed on right."

"Uh huh," she said, a smirk on her face. Eliot smirked back and Hardison tried to ask her again what had happened. Eliot held the cue out to her and she took it, "Colours or stripes?"

"Stripes." Hardison watched as she lined up a shot, sunk the cue against the white ball and this followed onto a striped yellow ball. The ball went in quickly and Hardison shook his head. "That's my girl," Eliot said as he took the cue back.

Caitlin placed a kiss to Eliot's cheek and said, "Thanks Dad, but I can take of myself."

"I know kid," he said, lining up the next shot. "But it's my job to take care of you." The striped red ball sunk into a corner pocket and he smirked up at Hardison.


	18. Chapter 18

Eliot glared from across the room. Hardison had to tap Eliot in the shoulder with the cue to get his attention. "What are you-" The Hacker followed the Hitter's gaze and smirked when he saw what it was that had distracted the man. "Well ain't that cute."

"No. It isn't," he said and he took the cue, eyed up the table for all of three seconds, took a shot and almost hit Hardison with the cue. His gaze landed on the two at the table; talking, smiling and laughing.

"Oh come on man," Hardison said as he glanced between the table, Hitter and the couple. "Ain't nothing wrong with that."

Eliot only growled in response and grabbed his beer, threw back a quarter of the bottle and continued his glaring. It didn't matter that Caitlin was almost eighteen; she was still too young for boys in his opinion. He caught the guy flick his eyes around the bar, land on him for a couple of seconds and he twisted back to face Caitlin. After a moment she glanced up, her eyes behind the guy, took on a look of annoyance and smiled to her friend and pulled herself up.

Eliot forced his direction towards the pool game and took the cue from Hardison. He took his time to line up his shot, keeping his eyes on the balls as a body appeared out of the corner of his eye. He glanced up to see Caitlin, arms folded and a glare of her own on her face. "Hey darling, you okay?"

"Stop glaring, you're freaking Tom out."

"Tom?" Eliot glanced back over his shoulder to the guy who was still glancing occasionally in his direction. "What are you two doing anyway?"

Caitlin rolled her eyes, pushed past her dad and grabbed two glasses of coke from the bar and took them back to their table. Eliot growled, glared and took his shot. Nate appeared at the table and gave Eliot a wry smile. "She'll be fine Eliot, just, you know, let her be."

"Come on Nate we were that age once. You remember the thoughts that went through your mind at that age."

Nate took a moment to consider his words and nodded, "Yeah, but, I also know that Caitlin can take of herself. Didn't she erm, punch somebody just a few weeks ago?"

"That's not the point," Eliot said.

"Hmm, so, what is the point?" Eliot didn't say anything, just cast another glance to Caitlin and her friend and turned back to his game. Nate patted the man on the back with a chuckle and moved back to sit with Sophie.

By the time Caitlin bid her goodbyes to her friend, Eliot had won five out of six games against Hardison, who had to call Parker in because he'd given up. The teenager wandered over to the group collected around the pool table and leaned back against the bar, just watching. The game ended and Eliot grabbed his beer and leaned against the bar next to his daughter. There was silence between them and Eliot turned a glance towards her, "Boyfriend?"

"Maybe." She shrugged and turned to face the bar.

"Maybe?"

"Maybe," she nodded, smirk on her face and sipped her coke through her straw and finished off her drink. "I'll see you at home."

"Bye," he said and he watched as she stepped out of the bar and moved up the stairs.

A few days later Caitlin walked in the bar with a different boy in tow. Eliot frowned. He said nothing, just watched them and let it be; as Nate had said. He didn't question her about the guy and kept a frown on his face. The next week she turned up with yet a different boy in tow and when the boy left he sat down next to her and said, "Alright, what's going on?"

"I have no idea," she said with a shrug.

He frowned and leaned forward, his elbows on the table. "Catey, what are you doing?" She shrugged and grabbed her empty glass, moved to the bar and left. Eliot threw his hands up and felt himself frown even more so. "The hell is she doing?"

Sophie took a seat next to him with a smirk on her face, "You see this," she pointed to Eliot's tensed form and said, "This is what she's trying to do. Eliot, she knows you hate the idea of her dating, seeing or even thinking about boys. This? I suspect this is just to irritate you, and she seems to be doing her job well."

"Really? This is a game to her?"

Sophie laughed and nodded, "Look at it from her point of view. She just thinks that this is funny."

"Well it isn't."

"It is," Parker said from behind them. Eliot stared at her over his shoulder and the Thief nodded. "It is." Eliot shook his head, stood and left McRory's himself. When he got home he called out for Catey immediately.

"Are you messing with me?"

The shit eating grin she wore only made it worse. She stepped next to him and kissed his cheek, "Only cause I love you."

"Well stop it. It's annoying."

"Yes Dad."

"Thank you."

She moved back towards the kitchen and turned, "Ooh, Dad?"

"Yeah?"

Caitlin's grin was gone and she looked awkward as she said, "Erm, Prom's coming up and erm, I was wondering if, if we could maybe look at dresses? And maybe even take Sophie? I mean, she's you know, she knows things and she could help with any of the dresses and I want you to be happy with it and-"

Eliot smiled. But it was a forced smile. Prom? Already? "Darling, Catey, relax. It's fine. Of, of course. I'll, I'll call Sophie and see if she's okay with it."

Caitlin pounced into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Thank you dad!"

Five hours. It had been five hours since they'd started looking for dresses and Eliot was getting tired. Dress after dress and both Sophie and Caitlin had disagreed on all of them. He had agreed on a fair number, unhappy with the amount of skin that was being shown.

She was trying on what could have been her hundredth dress and Eliot had let his gaze travel to the sales woman with an appreciative glance. Sophie had had to hit him a few times to stop himself getting distracted, and he turned as he heard Caitlin ask for help with the dress.

When Sophie returned, a grin on her face, he perked up. Hopefully this would be it. When Catey walked around the corner, he was happy to pay for it. The strapless blue dress stopped just below her knee in waves from a black band that separated chest from waist. It fitted excellently along her sides, giving her a figure that he knew guys would be chasing her for. Damn. "I like it," she said.

"Me too," Sophie said. "It's perfect."

"Yeah," he said, "It looks nice it erm, it's great."

"Can we get it?"

He nodded with a smile and the look of pure happiness that took over her face made him smile. She hurried back into the changing room to take the dress off and return with it over her arm. He paid, tucked it over the back of the back seat in his car and heard Sophie mention shoes. That the prefect shoes were necessary and she had the perfect pair in mind. Eliot sighed, hoping that they only had to spend at most an hour looking. "Fine," he said.

She was right. She knew the 'perfect' pair and they walked out of the shop just ten minutes after entering it; shoes paid for and boxed.

When Prom came around he almost paled in thought. Nothing made Eliot Spencer pale. What made it worse was when he was told that a 'friend' of hers was taking her. A friend. Who was most likely a boy. He gulped at the thought, waiting for her to come back down the stairs. Sophie had insisted upon seeing her handiwork and Parker being Parker wanted to see what the big deal was about. Nate and Hardison had been forced there by the two ladies and they sat, beers in hand, just chatting away.

Eliot stopped his pacing when he caught sight of blue fabric and a reddening face. "What's with the group meeting?" she asked, an awkward smile on her face as she glanced around the room.

He looked down at her, barely, the heels helped her eyes meet his now, and he smiled. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks."

"You," Hardison said, "Are going to knock the guys dead. Seriously."

Again, Caitlin said thanks and Sophie came forward with a camera, demanding a camera. The door went at that moment and Eliot felt his heart drop. Caitlin was the one who reached for it, swinging it open to show Tom on the other side. "Hey, looking good."

"You too," Tom said, smile on his face. "You ready?" he held an arm out.

Caitlin glanced back towards Eliot, who let out a reluctant nod, and she nodded back to Tom, "Yeah. I'm ready."

With that they were gone. Nate patted Eliot's shoulder, a familiar feeling just recently, and the older man said, "She's beautiful Eliot. A real heartbreaker."

"Thanks." Eventually everyone began to leave in drips and drags and when he got the phone call to pick her up, he did so with happiness. He pulled up to her waiting outside the building with a grin on her face. When she took a seat he smiled over to her; "You have fun Darling?"

"I did, thank you."

"I'm glad you did." Once they had been driving for a short while he turned and asked, "So, Tom _is_ your boyfriend then?"

Caitlin laughed and shook her head, "No, he just wanted a friend to go with and so did I."

"So you don't have a boyfriend," he said.

Again she laughed, "Nothing to worry about Dad. You happy?"

He shrugged his shoulders with a grin, "Maybe." When they got home, she retired for the night and Eliot took the next few minutes to just think about the comments, about what she'd been wearing, what she'd said when a thought occurred to him. Caitlin would be graduating soon. "Shit," he said to himself.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:** For reference to the series, this is set just after the **"Tap out job" **and the school that Caitlin goes to; **"East Boston high school" **I'm not an expert so if this is wrong, if this isn't a school, I apologise.

Before he knew it graduation day had rolled round and Caitlin was phoning him up; asking him if he was going to be there in two days. He stopped before exiting the changing room and with taped hands pressed the phone to his ear, "I'll be there darling."

By the time the job had done, his fight had ended and he held a number of bruises, Eliot sighed and took his phone out. "When's your graduation?"

"In two and a half hours. Can, can you not make it?"

Hardison's voice in his ear said, "Flights are booked, we'll be leaving in the hour."

"I'm on my way darling. I promise I'll be there."

There was a hint of disappointment in her voice, a hint of hope as she said, "Okay. See you then."

For the rest of the flight he sat, fingers twisting the fabric on the arm of his seat as he willed the plane to hurry up and go faster. Parker appeared next to him at some point, silent for several minutes before she asked, "Can I come? I've never been to a graduation thing. Can I go?"

He had turned his head, gave it a slight shake and sighed with a nod. "Sure. You never went to graduation?"

Parker shook her head. "No. I think I was stealing something that night."

Eliot just stared at her for a few moments before he shook his head, "Whatever. Just don't, don't steal anything okay?"

"Just one?"

"No."

"One thing?"

"No Parker, nothing. Not one thing or five. Nothing."

Parker pouted from her seat, crossed her arms and glared at the seat in front of her. Eliot spent the rest of the flight watching the clock, waiting for the flight to end. An hour to go, yet it would still take time to get to Caitlin's school. "Hardison," he said into his ear bud, "Get me a rental outside of the airport."

"Alright," the Hacker said, "Just, give me, done and done. Your welcome."

"Thanks." When the flight ended, nobody batted an eye as Eliot and Parker bustled themselves into the rental car, Eliot behind the wheel. It took a little over twenty minutes for him to arrive at East Boston High School and it took him a further five minutes to locate the graduation ceremony. There were no seats left when they turned up, but he was content to stand at the back of the seated crowd and watch. Parker stopped next to him, her head craning to scan the crowds.

"Where's Catey?"

Eliot nodded his head towards the front of the students seating area. "Third row, fourth in from the middle."

Parker turned to look at him, frown on her face, "How do you do that?"

"What?" Eliot said. "She has a very distinctive sitting posture."

"Something's wrong with you," she said as she let her eyes drift back to the line of students being called forward. "What's with the gowns? It looks silly."

"It's a thing. You know, when you graduate you all look the same, to celebrate that you've passed school."

"Still looks silly."

"Parker," he said, exhausted with the questions. "Just, just watch okay?"

"Sorry," the blonde said and she forced her attention onto the announcements, crowd of smiling faces, handshakes and clapping. When the name, 'Caitlin Morgan' was sounded Eliot's face lit up and Parker said, "Her last name's Morgan? I thought it was yours?"

Eliot shook his head and waved to the stage as Caitlin turned to look for him. She found him and waved back. "No, Morgan's her mother's name. Erm," he turned to look at the Thief now that Caitlin had walked off stage and tried to explain it to her. "I wasn't always in her life Parker. I didn't meet her until I was three. Her mother had to put a name on the birth certificate and I wasn't around."

"Okay. I get it. I think." There was another ten minutes to go before the ceremony ended; having missed a good chunk of it from getting there. When it did, Eliot pulled Parker away so that they could wait for Caitlin in a quieter place.

She pushed her way through the crowd a few minutes later and jumped at Eliot with a grin. "You made it."

"I said I would darling."

Caitlin pulled away and let a finger stray over the cut on his brow. "I'm not going to ask." Her blue eyes flicked to Parker and she smiled. "Thanks for coming Parker."

"I didn't realise it was so boring."

Caitlin laughed and shrugged, "Yeah well. You just kinda have to deal with it."

One of Caitlin's friends bounced up to her then and dragged her attention away in a hug. "Catey, I got in! Stanford accepted! I'm in!"

The two friends hugged for a moment longer and Eliot felt a twist in his gut. Stanford College. No doubt Caitlin would want to be going to College soon too. "Told you you'd get in."

"Well where are you going?"

There was a pause and Eliot watched as she threw a glance back towards him. "I'm not."

"What? I thought you were doing Art or something?"

"Changed my mind." Somehow, the twist in his stomach only got tighter. Was it his fault that she wasn't going to a college? What was she planning to do instead then? Her friend got called away by her parents and the two hugged once more, both wishing the other good luck and Caitlin turned to a questioning Eliot. "What?"

"What are you doing instead of College? I thought that was the plan?"

Caitlin shrugged with a smile. "Meh. College is overrated. Travelling though? _That _sounds like a plan."

"Travelling? Where?"

Again, Caitlin shrugged. "The States. I haven't seen much of my own country and I figured whilst I'm young, take in the sights and enjoy it."

Eliot frowned. "Not everyone you meet will be nice or kind or polite in any way."

She rolled her eyes, "I know. I've met some of them already."

He sighed and nodded to the car, "Anything else you need to get done?" She shook her head and Eliot made a start to the car.

Parker appeared next to Caitlin and said, "You look weird in that."

"I know. Everyone does."

"So why do you wear them?"

Caitlin shrugged with a smile on her face, "To celebrate? I don't really know." Parker nodded as they climbed into the rental car. "Can I travel?"

Eliot glanced at her in the rear view mirror and said, "We'll talk about it." On the way back to McRory's, so that Eliot could grab a drink and let Caitlin have just one drink, Caitlin rose the question about who had her Dad annoyed this time. Eliot made the defence that he got the cut in a boxing match to help another boxer. Parker had agreed and said something about someone dying but that they weren't actually dead just pretending and that that's how they finished the con.

Eliot and Caitlin stole a few minutes outside for Eliot to tell her he wasn't completely happy with the idea of her traversing across the States, by herself with nothing but what was on her back. She rolled her eyes at him and sighed, pushing the argument that she could take care of herself.

They went inside and Eliot grabbed two beers and passed one to her. "See what you think."

Sophie pulled a face at him. "You're letting her drink for the first time and you give her that, that, _rubbish_?"

"Nothing wrong with it," the Hitter said, taking a swig.

Caitlin shrugged at Sophie and took a sip. After a few more sips she shrugged her shoulders again and said, "It's pretty good." Sophie pulled a face again and turned the discussion towards Caitlin, asking her what she was doing now that she'd finished school. "At the moment? I don't know." The Grifter didn't miss the look the daughter passed to the father. "Just see what happens I guess."

A week passed with Eliot and Caitlin throwing complications, scenarios, solutions and words of promises to each other before he caved. "How long?"

Caitlin shrugged against the door frame to her bedroom. "Couple of days in each state, fifty states, cross off Hawaii and Alaska, say, half a year max?"

Eliot frowned. That was half a year she was away from him, without his watching eyes and alone. Half a year. He'd insisted on her taking an ear bud that only connected to his, she'd declined and said what about a camera. When he'd pulled a face she went back into her room, pulled out a video recorder and a netbook and said, "I can tape videos, post them into this online cloud here and if you have the password you can see the videos. They have date stamps."

He'd reluctantly agreed to it and told her to finish packing before he changed his mind. When she told him she'd finished he nodded his head and asked her if she had a variety of things. She'd rolled her eyes by the end of list and said yes. "Alright, come on. The guys will probably want to say bye."

He was right. Parker hugged the girl with a sad look in her eyes, Hardison hugged her wishing her well. Even Sophie and Nate hugged her, both wishing her well and to have a good time.

When they reached the bus station, a ticket in her hand, Eliot asked, "You sure about this?"

Caitlin passed a glance over her shoulder, twisted the straps of her rucksack and nodded. "I'm sure." She wrapped her arms around her father's next and said, "I'll miss you."

"Me too darling." He pulled away as tickets were called for for the bus. "Now remember, you have any trouble, go for the sore spot. And thumb on the outside. Always carry pepper spray and never go to anyone's place. Even if they seem great. Do not get drunk."

Caitlin laughed and threw herself around her father's neck again, "I promise to be careful. I love you."

"Love you too Catey. Love you too."

He watched her climb onto the bus, sit herself in a window seat and wave at him. It sucked to be saying goodbye to her. It sucked to know that she wouldn't be knocking on his front door for half a year.

A few minutes later and she was gone.


	20. Chapter 20

The first two days of silence Eliot spent them pacing, cooking, playing games with Hardison, doing anything to keep his mind away from the fact that his place was going to be pretty much silent for a long time. It was on the third day when Caitlin text him the simple message, "Video one is done."

Eliot stopped whatever he was doing to ask Hardison, "Can I borrow your lap computer thing?"

"You mean laptop."

"Whatever. Can I borrow it?" Hardison rolled his eyes and pulled out his laptop that was used when they took on jobs away from Boston. He typed in his password and handed Eliot the computer with the warning to not break it. "Yeah, yeah, you can have it back in ten minutes."

"What are you even doing?"

Eliot ignored the Hacker as he picked the laptop up and moved towards the table, away from Hardison's prying eyes. He checked his phone for the details that Caitlin had given him about how to access her most recent video and he smiled triumphantly to himself when he found the clip. When he clicked on it, it opened up a new window that filled the screen and there was darkness for a few seconds before Caitlin's face appeared. "Hey, erm," she glanced at her phone next to her. She was lying in bed on her stomach, a pillow underneath her chin as she spoke. "So, first night and I can't sleep. We stopped off in Maine just a few hours ago. Erm," she shrugged and let her head twist back to look at the room she was in. "Yeah. So, I'm still alive." A grin and a short laugh. "I'll record more before I upload. Night."

The screen flicked off and a moment later another scene took its position. He was looking at an ocean, a ferry of people and eventually the camera panned downwards to see a whirlpool. After several long seconds Caitlin twisted the camera to face herself as she stepped away from the edge. "Biggest whirlpool. Erm, so. First day and it's really sunny as you can see," the camera moves down to show her bare legs, a pair of pumps and shorts. The camera flicked back up and she grinned at him. "My next stop will probably be Vermont. But, I leave the day after tomorrow. Til then," the camera swung back to show the whirlpool and you could just hear Caitlin say, "Whirlpool."

There was another sudden flick and this time he saw her in some kind of pub or bar. It made him frown. "I'm not drinking before you say anything," the camera pointed down to show coke in a glass. "See? I'm the most boring person here." There was a grin and Eliot couldn't help the chuckle. He'd noticed Hardison scamper over at the sound of her voice the instant he pressed play and he didn't say anything, just let the man watch as he did. "But, it's just a generally nice atmosphere." She raised her coke glass and said, "To Maine. Next video, New Hampshire. Bye."

Eliot grinned and closed the screen. "Thanks man."

"Hey, no problem. She's having fun looks like."

"Yeah."

The next video was three days later. This time when Eliot watched it, both Hardison and Parker were leaning over his shoulder. "So, first night I get here I figured I'd take a walk, see what there is at night. Turn around, look behind my room and well. Here." She turned the camera away from her face to show the Northern lights in all their beauty. "Now I've seen them and I can see them whenever I want."

He could hear the smile in her voice as for several seconds, the camera stayed on the lights, just watching them. It changed after almost a minute to show a dusted brown floor and a wooden fence. "Is it working?"

"Check the screen."

The sound of a horse made Eliot frown slightly. "Oh, red dot. It's working. Okay, here we go. Stardust!" There was a whistle and a black speckled horse appeared at the fence. When the camera flicked up it was to show Caitlin on top, looking more than a little nervous. "And there's the new rider."

"Figured what did I have to lose?" The horse made a noise, nodded its head and Caitlin looked a little unsteady. The person holding the camera laughed and sent a hand out to stroke Stardust's nose. "Okay erm, a little scary."

"I'm going to be taking your daughter out on a little trot round the pen. I'll set the camera up so you can watch." There was static for a few moments as the camera was perched, precariously, on a fence post. After a few moments the guy holding the camera stepped underneath the fence and took Stardust by the reigns. "Okay girl, come on." The horse was led around the track and Eliot watched with a smile as Caitlin adjusted to the movements. "Don't worry Caitlin," he laughed and gently pulled the horse along. "It takes a little getting used to."

"Yeah, no kidding." There was a little humour in her voice, but more fear. "How many do you have?"

"Around fifteen in the stables now. And we take them out at least once a day. Some are recovering from injuries and they only do a little walk around this here area, and that's if they're up to it. Most of the others take a run around the larger pen and some practice their jumps here to make sure they're recovering."

"Sounds pretty cool."

"It is for me, but generally, people just glance it over." They had stopped back at the camera now and the guy said, "How about you try this on your own."

"Okay?" Before she could say anything else Stardust had started walking again. Catey did three more laps, growing more confident with each passing one before she was stopped and she dismounted. She bent down in front of the camera, grin on her face as she said, "First time horseback riding and it was fun. I'll probably do that again."

"Where you headed next?"

That was when the camera cut off and showed the image of an ice rink. Caitlin turned the camera and smiled. "Few bucks to have some free time on the ice and shoot some pucks." She glanced at her watch and said, "I'm on in ten." The screen flicked to show Caitlin at a distance, being told by an instructor, along with several others, how to hold a stick and the best way to slide the puck across the floor. Her eyes met the camera and she grinned with a shrug. A few minutes later, after several pucks were fired, he watched as Caitlin appeared on screen, thanked the person holding the camera and ambled up to a goal. "See that one," she pointed to one at the back of the net. "That one's mine." She twisted the camera to face her. "I can play hockey," she grinned, laughed and said, "Next stop Vermont."

"I want to see more," Parker said. Her hand outstretched to tap a button and Eliot stopped her.

"Wait til she's in Vermont." The Thief pouted and walked away then. Eliot only shook his head and went back to cooking the teams meal for that night.

"Okay, Vermont? Fairbanks museum and Planetarium. Pretty cool place. They've also go these great ocean views and I mean amazing. Puts Boston to shame." There was a grin on her face and the camera was moving. She was looking ahead of her and the camera twisted for several moments. The rest of the team had gathered and this time, the video was shown on Hardison's big screens.

She seemed to climb a hill and after a moment she sat down and turned the camera towards what she was seeing. A burning sky and a setting sun. "Beautiful. I'm sure there'll be a few of these, but, I figured I'd share a sunset with you. Maybe I'll even share a sunrise." There was a laugh off screen and Eliot could tell that she was smiling as she spoke.

After a moment she flicked the camera up and with a sad smile said, "I'm still not sleeping properly. Miss you Dad."

"Miss you too darling," he said to himself and he watched as Caitlin flicked the camera back towards the sunset.

The screen changed to another bar. This time there was loud music in the background, cheering and lots of yelling. After several moments the sounds were gone and the camera turned to show Caitlin outside yet another pub. "Okay, I'm drinking coke again, do not argue and that?" She pointed behind her, "Football night apparently. Either way, I've been offered free drinks and I turned them down. Scouts honour." There was an awkward moment as she tried to show the finger salute, with very little confidence. In the end she shrugged and turned back to the screen with a smile. "Okay, so, last night here, it's a short stay. I figured I'd just enjoy the people more than anything."

At that moment several people came out of the pub cheering, screaming and yelling. All with a happy look about them. One of the younger men kissed Catey's cheek and shouted into the camera. Caitlin backed away, one brow cocked and pure shock written on her face. "Okay, I'll catch you in New York. Love you. Tell the guys I said hi."

"Aww, bless her," Sophie said.

"I miss her," Parker said, pout in place.

"We all miss her," Nate said.

Eliot nodded and the team evolved into a argument about the reason why trying to catch up to the kid was a bad idea for Parker including the fact that Caitlin would always be ahead of the Thief.


	21. Chapter 21

Caitlin couldn't remember the last time she'd optional walked into a church. Earlier in life her mother had told her it was good practice to do so. Over the past few years, her mother hadn't bothered and her father didn't seem to care if she did or not.

Her mind was swimming with thoughts, actions, words, voices. She told herself she wouldn't cry. They didn't deserve her tears. The curled fists by her side couldn't be helped and she sought out the confession box. One thing she could never answer was whether or not she was a religious person. At this moment in time, she just felt it necessary to confess what thoughts were running through her mind. Thoughts she was certain she wanted to follow through with.

Ignoring the pulsing in her cheek, the burn on her legs and the ache her entire body took, she sat herself down in the confession box and waited for the sound of the priest on the other side. "Is this your first time?"

She cast a look up to the mesh and nodded, twisting her eyes back to the floor. "Erm, forgive me Father for I am, I am going to sin." She could feel the curiosity on the Father's face and she kept her gaze fixed on the floor. "I know the bible says something about vengeance being exacted but, I can't wait for that to happen. I can't wait that long."

"Child, do not exact revenge yourself. You only darken your own soul."

Caitlin shook her head. Her mind ran scenes through her head that she couldn't blot, that she wanted to but just couldn't. They glared down at her, taunting her with malicious smiles. She offered no other words, just let the images in her mind control her actions and she left the confession box. Not once did she look back.

Every few days the team took a ten minute break to watch Caitlin's recent video. It wasn't until she reached Illinois that Eliot felt the worry creep into his hands; curling them into ready fists. Caitlin's face was turned ever so slightly away from the screen, just enough to hide the left side of her face. There was a deject look about her Eliot wanted to hurt whoever had put that look about her.

After a moment she seemed to notice the camera and smiled. "Hey. Listen, erm, Illinois? Pretty nice place. I'm probably gonna head out tomorrow. There's a coach to Wisconsin at about ten so, I'll grab that." There was a pause in her speech and her eyes seemed to grow distant for several seconds before she shook her head. "Nice people, nice town. A few nice museums and such." A smile grew now and she said, "The people at the winery let me pick my own grapes, make my own wine, but they said they couldn't let me leave with it." There was an odd laugh as she said, "But they felt bad about that."

Her head twisted towards a spot off camera and Eliot could feel something odd about her. After a second she turned back to face the camera with a smile. "I'll catch you in Wisconsin."

The video shut off and that was that. Nothing more. Eliot couldn't pull his eyes away from the screen for several seconds and it was Parker who said, "She didn't seem to like Illinois."

Sophie shrugged and asked, "Is that all there was?"

"Yeah," Hardison said as he searched through the area where Caitlin uploaded videos.

Eliot excused himself, leaving the apartment to pull his phone out and dial Caitlin's number. It took several rings before Caitlin answered with a lazy, "Hey dad."

"What happened in Illinois?"

He felt her perk up at that, "Nothing why?"

"Catey, tell me. What happened? I'm not an idiot."

There was a sigh and Caitlin said, "It's nothing. Honestly. I'm fine and I'm on the coach okay?"

As Eliot tried to drag the answer out of her, inside the apartment Nate had asked Hardison to pull up news feeds for Illinois. "What am I looking for?"

Nate shook his head. "I don't know. Just, something. Anything that strikes you as odd and to do with an eighteen year old girl."

Hardison just shook his head as he conducted a search. Within five minutes several articles popped up and Nate stood to look closer at the screen. He pointed to a small article from two days ago that talked about three guys, ages eighteen to twenty three, being beaten so badly they were hospitalised with several broken bones between them. None of them were in intensive care, but they were hurt enough to have to sit around for several days. None of them had spoken a word about their assailant, just said that they were attacked by someone called Spencer. "You don't really think-"

"Hardison pull up the boys records."

There were a few seconds before the Hacker shook his head. "All students in and around Illinois back home on holiday with their parents. None of them have a record."

"Well, see what other stories you can dig up. We know Catey wouldn't do such a thing unless she had a very good reason."

"I didn't think she was even capable of this," Hardison muttered as he typed away.

A few moments later another series of newspaper articles popped up and even Sophie gasped when the team took a few moments to read what they'd found. "Those poor girls," she said.

Nate's face darkened. Not even the sound of a door closing, Eliot coming back in, turned his head away. Next to him he felt Eliot stand and read what the team had been looking again. Again, he felt Eliot tense up, felt the man's fury begin to boil and Nate cast a sideways glance to him. "Eliot."

"Nate."

"What's done is done."

Eliot shook his head, arms folded across his chest and Nate could see the fight begin to brew inside the smaller man. "Hold up one minute," Hardison interrupted, "Are we, are we saying that these guys did this," he waved at the screen, "To Catey. And other girls?"

"And it looks like their parents have been covering it up."

"Now Catey," Parker said. "Beat them up for those girls!" There was a slight gleeful look in Parker's eyes and it was Sophie who told her that Catey beat the boys up for herself. Not the other girls. "Poor Catey," she said.

Eliot turned on his feet and left the apartment. Nobody attempted to stop him, nor did anyone say anything for several long seconds before Sophie said, "Will she get a record?"

Nate shrugged. "The boys said someone called Spencer beat them up. Caitlin Morgan is not Spencer."

"Are we condoning what she did then?"

Hardison nodded his head, "Hell yeah! If some guy touched you and you learnt that they'd done it before, wouldn't you want to kick the hell out of them?"

"Sophie's right," Nate said. "We shouldn't condone this, _but_, this is the first she has done it and with some justification. If for the right reason, I agree with Hardison, if not, then I agree with Sophie."

The Grifter sighed and looked back to the screen, "I just hope that she doesn't make a habit out of this."

Eliot was on the phone again, sat behind his wheel with a look of angry worry about him. "Catey, I want you answer me honestly."

"Yeah?"

"Did they," he took the phone away from his ear for a second to try to get the words into his mouth. "Did they, touch," he paused and said, "touch you?"

For a moment he heard nothing but silence. When she did speak he almost didn't hear it. "Yeah."

The grip on his phone tightened and he swore underneath his breath and put the phone back with a steady breath. "They, erm, did they erm, r-"

"Yeah." She said, knowing where his question was going. "Bruised ribs, black eye, twisted wrist."

He wanted to punch somebody. He wanted to yell, punch, and kick just anything, to hurt someone. After several long seconds he took several deep breaths and put the phone back to his ear. There was one question he had on his mind. He knew that she would've gone back to them for revenge. They touched her and beat her. And if she'd learnt that they'd done it to somebody else before? He held a breath, released it and said, "Do you regret it?"

There was an odd silence on the phone before she said. "Honestly?"

He raised his head with a wry laugh, "Yeah. Catey. Answer me honestly, do you regret what you did or would you go and do it again?"

A part of him wanted to hear her say that she did in fact regret it, that it wouldn't happen again. But another part of him wanted her to say no. That if somebody else did what those boys had did, she would happily do it again. He was torn between what answer he heard and knew that no matter which one she gave, he would still be upset by it.

"No. I don't regret it and I'd do it again."


	22. Chapter 22

The next few videos consisted of smiles and happy tales and Eliot began to feel his mood feeling better about her round trip around the states. Utah was next on the list. When the video popped up it was to a wide eyed, blinking Caitlin. She couldn't seem to keep her head still and she seemed to almost… twitch. After a moment she remembered the camera and turned to it with a wide grin. "Hi. Erm," she pinched her eyes shut, opened them and let out a breath. There was a pause before she held up eight fingers. "Eight! Eight cups of coffee for Arizona!" She stared at the screen for a moment then laughed.

"Ooh dear," she said to herself, turning her gaze away for a second. "Coach leaves at nine AM. _I_ went to bed at…" she looked up as though she thought about it deeply for several seconds before she said, "Five. Five AM."

"Wow," Hardison commented.

After a moment Sophie said, "Is she?"

Eliot knew the question as he looked at the dark room behind Caitlin and the slight paleness in the dark. Is she hung over? Did she go out and get drunk the night before. He sure as hell hoped not. "I hope not."

Almost as if reading their thoughts Caitlin said, "No. I wasn't drinking. Unless you count water, coke and lemonade. But, there was some festival that ended around half four. It. Was. Fun." She ran a hand over her face and said, "Fun." She checked her watch and with a grin said, "On to Arizona. See you there."

Arizona. He already knew what he was going to see when he clicked on the video; the Grand Canyon. His smile was warm as he was shown the stretch of a long deep valley. She must've up one of the higher regions. "I don't have to tell you where I am do I?" There was a laugh and she turned the camera down towards her feet. "Steep hill. We're not too far from the bottom as you can see what? Thirty feet?"

He watched as her feet stepped back two full paces and she turned the camera around to face up the hill. "I'll be climbing that and I will be careful." The camera turned to face her again and Eliot found the grin infectious. She began walking, camera ahead of her as she spoke. "Okay, plan is to stick around Arizona for maybe five days. Couple of days for Canyon and a break then get a look round, then leave. I got to say, I might come here more often." There was heavy breathing for a few seconds, a lot of camera movement before she spoke again. "We've been walking for, half an hour I think?" The camera turned to show a large group. A woman was walking alongside Caitlin with a pained expression.

The camera turned back up to face her and she smiled, showing herself panting. "Not a regular hike." She turned it around again to point to the top of the mountain. "I'll stop for now and start again somewhere up there. Should be a good view to-"

The camera juddered, rolled and everyone in the room held their breath as they watched the camera turn even more so. There was a thud, a few shouts, screams and even the sound of dirt falling. "Oh no," Sophie said.

Eliot couldn't look away, his eyes glued to the screen in worry. The camera circled for several seconds before it came to a stop at a slant and shut off. The next image made them raise their eyebrows. Caitlin was sat up in what looked like a hospital bed, cuts and abrasions to her face, scratches to her neck. She held an awkward smile and a slightly pained expression. "Woops." Even the way she spoke was pained. "Don't panic. I'm alive." She closed her eyes momentarily before she reopened them. "Hospital. The woman next to me fainted; heat stroke, crashed into me and set me off balance." There was an awkward shrug to her shoulder.

Caitlin sighed and sat her head back for a long minute. When she brought it forward it was slowly and she let out a deep breath. She lifted her left arm to show a cast, "Broken arm, bruised ribs, twisted ankle and the camera?" She pulled a face. "Pretty decent camera apparently. Still works." She held a grin and gave a short laugh before stopping herself with an, "Ow."

"I think," she said. "I think I might come home." She waved her arm again and pinched her eyes shut in pain. After a moment she opened them again and smiled. "Yeah I'm cutting this thing short. Erm, I'll be in the hospital for a few days; thankfully they let me grab my stuff first so, I can rest easily. I'll let you know what I'm doing in a few days. Bye." There was a strained smile before she cut the feed out.

Eliot was on his feet, phone out of his pocket as he rung her up. He had to try a second time before she answerer lazily, "Hey Dad. You saw the video then?"

"I'm coming to pick you up."

There wasn't even an argument in her and Eliot if it was the drugs or her agreeing. "Okay. Flagstaff."

"Flagstaff, got it. See you soon darling."

"Love you," she said and he repeated the words.

When he finished his phone call Hardison smiled up at him, "One flight to Flagstaff and two flights back done and done."

"Thanks Hardison." Nobody said anything, just greeted Eliot with a silent nod and a smile. It took him all his strength to not speed down the roads, towards the airport and onto the plane. When he did reach the airport, he picked up his ticket, grabbed a quick sandwich and boarded his flight. It was a ten hour, one stop flight and he took it calmly. There was no need to rush or worry. Sure, Caitlin was hurt, but she was in a hospital, had already been taken care of and was just on medication now. He took a cab to the hospital and asked at the nurses' station to see Caitlin. "I'm her father and she told me she'd been involved in a fall. She's broken her left arm, she's bruised and all but up."

It took a little more persuasion before the one of the nurses gave him directions. He pulled back the curtain to find her asleep, curled up on her right side with her good arm tucked underneath her head as a pillow. The thin blanket was around her legs and he picked it up, draped it around her shoulders and placed a gentle kiss to her temple. That action brought her out of her unconsciousness and she smiled sleepily up at him. "Hey."

"Hey darling. How you feeling?"

"Good. I think the drugs work fine."

Eliot laughed and smoothed her hair down. "You ready to get out of here or you wanna sleep some more?"

She wriggled, winced and slowly drew herself up. "Nah, I miss my bed." He laughed and let her get dressed. "Hey erm, Dad?" he heard a few seconds later. "Could erm, could you get a nurse for me please? A female one?"

"Oh," he said. Clearing his throat he nodded, "Sure thing darling." He brought one back just two minutes later and smiled kindly to the woman. Behind the curtain he heard gentle conversation and felt himself smile. It took fifteen minutes for her to get dressed and the nurse came out with a smile on her face. Caitlin thanked her and Eliot nodded. "You okay to walk?"

Caitlin nodded as he reached for her backpack. "Yeah, just speak to the Doctor about meds?"

Eliot held the sigh in and told her to sit back on her bed. It took a further thirty minutes for the Doctor to show up, in that time, Eliot examined Caitlin's camera and winced at the chipping, the way the lens was falling off and the way the lens was scratched. The camera seemed to have gone through a war. "Just take two of these, four times a day for two weeks and talk to your Doctor after that. See how they feel okay?"

"Okay, thanks Doctor." Eliot took the prescription, signed Caitlin out of the hospital, flagged down a cab and gave the order for the airport. On the way there his daughter had rested her head against his shoulder, eyes closed. When they finally boarded the plane she did the same thing and it wasn't long before she was sleeping. Eliot smiled down at her and just let her be. When the flight attendant came round, asking if he wanted anything he asked for two pillows and two sandwiches, one for him and one for her.

She ate at the stop in-between flights and when they were on the second plane she propped her head against the window and sighed. "Thanks Dad."

He smiled over at her, taking in her appearance; worn out, tired, knackered. "Anytime Catey. Come here." She rested her head back on his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head. "You just sleep now okay?"

She obeyed with sleep no more than five minutes later.

When they finally touched ground, he disturbed her to get her off the plane, into a cab, then out of the cab and into his place. It was here where he guided her to her bedroom and she collapsed with a loving sigh. Eliot chuckled at the sight and watched as she curled up and fell to sleep once more. He removed her shoes, pulled a spare blanket over the top of her, kissed the crown of her head once more and let her be for however long she needed.


	23. Chapter 23

Nate ordered that nobody visited Eliot or Caitlin for the next couple of days. Just to give them both a bit of breathing room. Parker couldn't wait. And neither could Hardison. Sophie insisted on checking up at least the next morning and Nate felt his words fly right out of the window. Before he knew it, he was driving the team to Eliot's place in the middle of the next day. When Parker knocked on Eliot answered with just a roll of his eyes and a slight smirk to the corner of his lips that he tried to hide. "How's she doing?" Nate asked.

"Parker," Eliot warned, watching the Thief recoil away from the sleeping girl's room. He sighed and said, "She's sleeping. That's all she's done. But she's alright I guess."

"Nothing too serious then?" Sophie asked and Eliot shook his head.

Hardison had made his way towards the kitchen, inspecting the food Eliot had cooking. "What is this?"

"Don't touch it," he warned and he gave Hardison a look that forced the Hacker to slink away towards the couch. Parker joined the man and Sophie took a seat on a different couch, Nate joining her. A light conversation began then and Eliot found himself relaxing around his team. His family.

Sophie was in the middle of explaining some old con to the team when a door opened; ceasing the conversation. All eyes turned with soft smiles to see Caitlin stood in pyjamas and a sleepy expression. "Hey," she said.

"How you doing?" Eliot asked.

She shrugged awkwardly and moved to the kitchen to grab a box of pills. "Okay? As good as can do I guess?"

"Does it hurt?" Parker asked.

Caitlin threw back two of the pain killers and offered Parker a tired smile. "A little."

"Well, we're glad you're okay," Sophie offered her a warm smile.

"You hungry?"

Caitlin shook her head, "Not really." She yawned.

"Tough you're eating," Eliot said.

As she made a face and opened her mouth to retort Nate interrupted, "Your Dad's right. Some food will do you good."

Before she could complain Parker was on her feet and pulling the teenager towards the couch next to her. The conversation started up again and before anyone knew it Eliot was handing plates of curry out to them. The next ten minutes was spent with food being eaten and people enjoying what they ate. Eliot kept an eye on Caitlin, watching as she perked up the more she ate. He felt himself smile and once all plates were cleared and set in the kitchen to be cleaned, Caitlin wished everyone goodnight, thanked them for coming round and made her way back to bed. "Poor thing," Sophie said.

"Can I draw on her cast?" Parker asked.

Eliot shrugged, "Ask her when she's awake again." Nate dragged everyone out to give both father and daughter some time to themselves. When he was alone Eliot took a moment to peer in on Caitlin to find her curled up once more. He chuckled to himself and closed the door again.

It was a good two weeks before Caitlin started moving around outside of his place. The bruises, cuts and abrasions on her face were near enough gone now. Nate noticed the slight spring in her step now. He noticed the way Eliot kept an eye out on her as she worked herself around Nate's kitchen. He'd gotten used to the teen and her father preparing meals in his kitchen. It didn't bother as much as it used to. The kitchen actually got used for something other than an area in his apartment.

He frowned slightly. She wasn't cooking anything. Caitlin had kicked her shoes off, pulled herself up onto the clean counter and had produced some book from her bag.

When he questioned Eliot about her being there he said something about Caitlin wanting something to do whilst she recovered. Not to mention the fact that she wanted Hardison's help in looking for a job.

Once Nate had finished giving people instructions on what each member had to do, he noticed Caitlin hop down; silently, and pin something to his fridge. A piece of paper. He decided he'd look at it later, but watched as Caitlin moved towards Hardison who gave her a quick tutorial on clicking and going back on his computer as he pulled up a list of potential jobs for her. Eliot told her to be good as he left.

Their current job finished early; helping an introverted boy to get leverage over his step dad. It took a couple of days and when they reached Nate's apartment it was to find a note telling them she'd got a job working at _7 Eleven_. Nate took that time to glance at the paper she'd stuck to his fridge. When he saw it, he couldn't help but smile. "Say Eliot, Caitlin do this?"

Eliot moved to look over the man's shoulders and nodded a smile on his face. "Yeah."

"It's good. She's good."

"I know," he said with a far off voice. Nate put the picture that Caitlin had drawn of the team back on the fridge and kicked everyone out of his apartment for some days rest to himself.

When Eliot got home he found a plate of food waiting for him, just on the underside of warm, and placed it in the microwave to be heated up. He checked in on Caitlin as he waited for the microwave and found her already asleep.

The next few weeks went by in a similar routine; Eliot went to Nate's to discuss jobs whilst Caitlin went to work and they swapped cooking every other day. It was when it was nearing the middle of July that Caitlin was finally allowed to take her cast off. After that, there was a hop in her step for the first few days and she did everything she could to use the full capacity of her left arm.

Eliot could only chuckle.

It was when it was nearing the end of August that Eliot felt helpless. Their last job had consisted of faking Sophie's funeral and when he'd returned home to give Caitlin a hug he found her crying. Curled up in the middle of the couch, fat tears rolling down her cheeks, eyes red and puffy.

She hadn't known where it had come from, what had caused the sudden panic attack in her chest, but Caitlin found herself blinking more and more rapidly to clear her vision. Something in her brain triggered the attack she'd suffered back in Illinois. It all hit her. Just suddenly whilst she was reading a science fiction book. It hit her like a train wreck.

For several minutes her body just shook, her eyes burned and her throat swelled up. It was getting harder for her to breathe and then. Snap. The tears came and they wouldn't stop. It could have been ten minutes or an hour before her Dad walked in, crouched down in front of her and wrapped his arms around her.

For the life of her she didn't want him to let go. Ever. She clung on to him as he rubbed circles on her back and shushed her, telling her that it was going to be alright. She felt anything but alright. Through babbled breaths she tried to tell him that she was sorry. When he asked her if she wanted to tell him, she just said Illinois and he understood. Whatever had happened there, when she buried it, the memory, the emotions, the feelings. It started to crack and filter through now.

And it was breaking her and breaking his heart.

For the rest of the night he sat with her curled up against her side and just let her cry it out. The only words he said were, "It's going to be alright darling. I'm here. Nothing's gonna hurt you no more I promise Catey." He repeated the phrases, wanting to hold them true til the day he died.

When she settled into sniffling and wiping at her face, Eliot excused himself and moved to the kitchen. In the freezer, at the very back, he kept two tubs of emergency ice cream. One thing he'd learnt over the years; ice cream could solve a lot of tears. Chocolate for Catey and Strawberry for himself. He grabbed two spoons, passed her the ice cream and spoon and opened his own.

"Thanks," she said with a faint smile on her face as she began to slowly eat away at it.

"Anytime," he said, placing a soft kiss to her temple. "Just remember, every man has the same weak spot, never be afraid to go for it. And I mean, _really _go for it. Don't hold back. Ever."

Caitlin chuckled and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I know, I know." Once ice cream was out of the way Eliot asked if she wanted to watch some movies on her laptop. He apologised about the lack of TV and she said it was fine. "Do you even have any DVD's lying around?"

After a moment Eliot said, "No, I, I don't. No."

Caitlin chuckled, moved to her room and brought back her laptop and a one of her own DVD's. "Ghostbusters," she said as she plugged her laptop in, put the disc in and pressed play. Eliot wrapped his arm around her and pulled her towards him as the film started.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: **I apologise for the lateness in updating. Real life caught up to me by quite a bit.

It was nearing the end of August when Eliot was disturbed from his pleasant breakfast by a "Yes!" almost directly down his ear. The post had arrived just minutes ago and she had brought it through to him, save for her own letter. He glared at her as she grinned, not noticing his stare. "Oh wow," she said, her voice much lower in volume.

Eliot quit his glaring. Caitlin was too focused on the letter in her hands to notice him. "You gonna share with the rest of the class?"

She looked over to him, forming a small 'o' with her mouth. As she hesitated, looking down at the letter then at him, the smile began to grow again. "I got into College."

His brain froze for a few seconds as he let himself process what she had just said. College. She'd gotten into College and she was happy about it. Extremely happy. "Which College?"

"Boston University."

"Boston?"

She nodded at his frown. "Boston. Fine Arts before you ask."

He continued frying the bacon, something he didn't regularly cook. But she'd insisted and Eliot had caved. He nodded. "How'd you plan to pay for it?"

Caitlin perched herself on top of a clear space on the kitchen counter and waved the letter towards him, "Scholarship."

"Really?" he frowned.

She nodded proudly and put the letter down, "Yeah. They asked for a Portfolio of work to be sent in, to assess my abilities. This says that I got a place along with a scholarship because of potential or something."

He smirked up at her for that comment, "You do have potential darling."

She shrugged and pushed herself off the counter. "As long as I get an education for free, I'm not complaining." Eliot chuckled as he plated up the bacon. "Besides," she shrugged again. "Why would I ever want to leave?" She kissed his cheek, took one of the plates and began to form her own bacon sandwich.

He chuckled again and grabbed his own plate. "Really Catey? You don't want to leave Boston?"

She shrugged, "Not for a while at least." Eliot smiled at her and watched as she took a bite with a smirk. He nodded and tucked into his own sandwich with a smile still in place.

A couple of days passed and the team, minus Sophie plus Tara, were listening to Sterling explain how Maggie had been accused of stealing a Faberge egg. Just as he finished explaining the situation and Tara asked who Maggie was, Caitlin walked in. "Nate's ex-wife," Eliot said, passing a glance over his shoulder.

"Sorry, pretty sure I left my keys here."

"That's fine," Nate said.

"Is there any chance Maggie took the egg?" Tara asked.

Parker shook her head from her position and said, "No, Maggie's the most honest person we know. Besides that she's okay."

"How's College?" Hardison asked.

"Fun," Caitlin said as she closed another drawer. "I'll be gone in a minute guys. Sorry about this." She pointed upstairs, silently asking Nate if she could look. He nodded and she moved up the stairs in almost silent grace.

"You live and work here?" Sterling asked.

Nate nodded and Caitlin reappeared, keys in hand. "Got them."

Eliot tilted his head towards the door and gave a short whistle followed by a, "Hey, we're leaving soon."

"Got it, have fun." She waved goodbye to the team and left. Nate gave Sterling the signal to carry on; ignoring the funny look his old colleague was giving Eliot and the door.

As they arrived at the airport, Eliot sent a quick message to Sophie, asking her to check in and keep an eye on Caitlin for him. The woman agreed and Eliot thanked her, telling the Grifter that he owed her one. Once he was done he waited for the team to carry on and called Caitlin up. "Hey Catey, listen, we're going to be out of the country for a few days."

"I can survive a few days on my own, don't worry."

He chuckled, "I know darling. Alright, be good. I'll call you when we land back in Boston."

"Got it, see you." He hung up and made his way onto the flight, ignoring Sterling with all his might.

Caitlin sighed as she hung up the phone. A few days to herself. Alone. In her Dad's place. Another sigh escaped her and she turned to the kitchen. There was a great recipe for scones that she'd picked up from her mum and set to work making a batch of sixteen.

The rest of the day went by with her doing some work, tidying up after herself and just relaxing on her laptop watching DVD's. Later that night she received a call from David; a friend from school who was living on campus in Boston. He was studying maths and he'd called to ask her if she wanted to just have a night in with his roommate and a couple of others. After a few seconds she'd agreed, better than spending the evening alone.

It was when she opened the door that she stopped to pull out her phone. With a curious frown she answered the unknown number. "Caitlin? Hi, it's me Sophie. I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping tomorrow. Just you and me."

Caitlin locked the door behind her and nodded as she stepped down onto the pavement, "Yeah sure. That sounds fun. What time?"

"Ooh, say around, ten-ish. I'll pick you up from your place."

She stopped in her tracks for a moment and let out a silent sigh. It had been a while since she'd seen David, but at the same time it was an effort to get from his to hers. "Sure, that'll be fine."

Sophie hung up with an "Excellent," and a smile on her face. One thing that was good was to be able to shop around Boston with another female that wasn't Parker, whose sense of dress was black clothing suitable for jumping off buildings. Tara was a great shopping partner, but it was only on occasion that they could go shopping, with Tara doing jobs all over the place.

Keeping her smile on her face, Sophie let herself sink back into the book she'd been reading. Until Hardison and Eliot called about some information they needed. She couldn't help the smile that betrayed her annoyance as she gave them the information they sought to help them to clear Maggie's name.

Caitlin on the other hand was busy making her way up several flights of stairs. David lived on the fourth floor and she knocked heavily, throwing her rucksack off her shoulder and into her left hand. When David answered, short brown ruffled hair and brown eyes observing her, he smiled and stepped aside for her, "Ignore Andy and Jay, it's some sort of battle apparently. Hannah and Nicki are somewhere."

"Awesome," she said. Hannah and Nicki were friends of the boys but lived in the female section of the campus. Caitlin had met them a few weeks back, when David had invited her around to meet his friends and she'd gotten along with them well. She dropped her rucksack by the TV, ignoring the argument brewing between Andy and Jay and moved towards the bedroom to find Hannah and Nicki sprawled on a bed just talking. "Hey! What's new?"

"Catey!" both girls said. "Close the door," Hannah ordered and once she had listened Hannah said, "Nicki likes David."

Nicki proceeded to hit Hannah with a pillow. "Hey!"

"What? She needs to know. She could talk to him for you."

Catey let her eyes flick from one girl to the other with a smirk on her face. When she'd heard those words however, something had made her insides twist. Did _she_ like David? She shook those thoughts away with a snort. They were friends. Just friends. In the end, Caitlin delved into ways that Nicki could talk to David, about what the guy liked and disliked. When it was time to sleep, Caitlin took the couch as the boys moved to their respective bedrooms and the girls to theirs.

In the morning, she was up before the others and out of kindness cooked breakfast. Midway through the cooking process David appeared in pyjama shorts and a t-shirt. "Bacon?"

"And scones and pancakes. I got bored and some of your stuff needed to be used."

"Sweet." He moved and grabbed one of the scones that were cooling down on a plate. Caitlin shook her head as she flipped the bacon and placed more into the pan. "You know," David began after swallowing the first bite. "I think Nicki likes me."

"She does."

"Huh." David took another bite of his scone and Caitlin lifted her head to look over him. He lifted his eyes to meet hers and they shared a smile. "Kinda sucks to be her."

Caitlin hid her eyes and fished out the bacon from the plate. She glanced at her phone to see the time and said, "I got to go. I'm supposed to be meeting someone."

David stood and lead her to the door, her rucksack over her shoulder. "You know, you're always welcome to come round."

"I know." She stood awkwardly in the doorway as David said goodbye. "See you around."

As she moved towards the stairs David called out to her, "You think we can grab coffee one time?"

She paused and after a few moments deliberation tossed a smile over her shoulder, "Sure. I'll let you know. See you." She heard him say bye once more and hurried down the stairs. If she was lucky she'd arrive back before Sophie arrived. She managed to get in, throw her dirty clothes into the washing machine, grab a quick shower and dry her hair before Sophie knocked on. She greeted the older woman with a wide smile and said, "Let me just grab my bag." She pushed her purse into her shoulder bag, locked the door and said, "You ready?"

"Let's get going then," Sophie said.


	25. Chapter 25

She had to admit, even though Sophie wasn't her Mum, she was still fun to shop with. Caitlin had managed to hold several conversations and many of those included tales of Sophie in some other country looting some form of artwork. They grabbed lunch, on Sophie's money and insistence, and by the end of the day, they had over a dozen bags between them. Caitlin held enough new clothes to take over half of what she already owned and made a mental note to clear away some of her old clothes. "Tell me Catey, are there any lucky guys out there?"

"Huh?" Where the hell did that come from?

Sophie only held a smirk and a knowing look as she leant forward in her seat. "I doubt you'd tell your father about any boy you had an interest in. And girl to girl, I promise I won't tell."

Caitlin let out a cough and smirked awkwardly up at the older woman. "We're- you want to talk about boys? Really?"

Sophie shrugged her own smirk still in place. "Why not? I mean, I'd like to know more about you including any boys you may have an interest in or ones that have an interest in you."

"When you put it like that, it just sounds weird." Caitlin grabbed her drink and took a sip, giving Sophie an expectant look. After a few seconds of staring off with the Grifter, the younger woman gave in and sighed. "I don't know okay? We're, we're friends and Nicki likes him. I mean, yeah I know him better but I don't, I don't know."

"Slow down," Sophie said with a grin in her voice. "Okay, tell me again." For the next thirty minutes the two women talked about Caitlin's guy troubles and how she could get around it.

* * *

As the door to McRory's opened up Eliot flicked his gaze away and said to Tara, "Now you're part of the team," and moved to stand next to Caitlin. She dropped a large black case on the floor against the bar and ordered a drink. "What's in that?"

She sighed. "Three large white canvases. It's for some project to do with abstract imagism, I don't know."

"Sounds, fun."

Caitlin glanced over at her father who sounded anything but impressed. "Who was that guy you were all working with anyway? I haven't seen him before." Eliot only growled, earning a chuckle from Caitlin. "That well huh?"

"We try to avoid him." he swung back some of his beer and frowned at her. "What have you been doing since I was gone?"

Caitlin shrugged and said, "Work? Same old stuff? I think you lead a more exciting life then me."

Eliot chuckled and finished his beer. "Come on. Let's get your stuff home."

"Actually," Caitlin said and Eliot turned his gaze towards her with a curious expression. "Can I leave this here and pick it up later? I'm meant to be meeting a friend soon. It won't be for long, just, maybe a couple of hours."

Now he frowned. A friend? That sounded… ominous. "What for?"

"Just to talk," she shrugged and held a soft smile, "Please?"

For a few moments, he was tempted to question her, find out where she was going, who with and the nature of their meeting. And the way she'd told him nothing about who it was or why, only made him more curious. But he bit his tongue and nodded. "Alright. Just, don't be too late."

"I promise," Caitlin said as she kissed Eliot's cheek and shuffled her rucksack further up her shoulder. "See you later."

"Bye," he said to her back as she skipped out of the bar. That made him frown further. Since when did she _skip_?

"She seems happy," Tara said from Eliot's left.

He turned with a slight glare and shrugged his shoulder. "So?"

Tara held a smirk, a knowing smirk. "When she gets back, ask her what his name is. Not beforehand."

"And why the hell not?" A guy? If she'd ditched him for some guy, he sure as hell wanted to know who.

Tara chuckled and shook her head. "She'll get mad, refuse to talk to you or whatever she does."

"How do you know?"

The Grifter offered the Hitter a chuckle and said, "My Dad did the same thing." That was her parting words and Eliot was left to scowl at her back. He muttered under his breath and then decided to lug Caitlin's case into the trunk of his car. At least that way it was out of the way.

* * *

Caitlin stepped into the coffee shop with her smile. She expected an interrogation when she got back. But she chose to ignore that fact as her eyes searched the small room for David. He waved at her from a corner and she jumped into the seat next to him. She had to admit, after some heavy thinking, she did in fact like David as more than a friend.

A drink sat waiting for her and they exchanged welcomes and thank you's. "I told Nicki that I was interested in somebody else."

"Smooth, who?" She sipped her drink and observed his sheepish expression. After a moment she choked on her drink and glared at him, "You didn't."

David shrugged his shoulders and his voice rose as he said, "I didn't know what else to say! I panicked!"

Her eyes widened and she sighed. "Dave," she whined.

"I'm sorry okay, but," he held his hands up and offered her a pointed expression. "But, it's the truth." That made her brain stop working and she stared at him. Just stared, eyes wide and her mouth hanging open ever so slightly. David cast a wary glance around the shop and leaned forward to say, "Catey?" When she didn't answer he tried again, "Caitlin?"

She blinked. Snapped her head away and blinked again. After a moment she swung her head back and stared at him. He offered her a confused expression. "You do?"

That seemed to shake David and he nodded hesitantly. "Yeah. I, I like you. As more than a friend."

Caitlin ducked her head away and grabbed her drink, taking a long swig of it. She heard David sigh and turned her head to see his own head ducked. She smirked, placed a kiss to his cheek and watched his face form a question. She shrugged, finished her drink and kissed his cheek again. "Thanks for the drink. I should probably get going." David made a face and stood as she did, pulling a confused face as she pulled her jacket over her shoulders. Caitlin smirked at his look and took her leave. If she left her Dad any longer he'd only get more curious then she knew he already was.

When she got back at McRory's, it was to find her dad and Hardison playing pool. Most of the other patrons had left already and she settled herself on a stool next to Parker. "Who's winning?"

"Eliot I think," she said, eyes fixed on the game.

At that moment, Eliot flicked his eyes up, walked towards her and leaned against the bar next to her. "What's his name?"

Caitlin eyes her father with suspicious eyes before she shrugged her shoulders and said, "David. He does maths and does actually study."

There was an odd silence between them before Eliot nodded and approached the table. Parker leaned her head towards Caitlin and said, "Who's David?"

Caitlin couldn't help but chuckle as she said. "David is my boyfriend."

"Huh," Parker said, nodding her head and turning her attention towards the table again.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N:** This chapter is set at the end of season 2 for clarification. I want to thank everyone who's reading and reviewing. I know my updates have been slow, but real life is creeping up on me. Please enjoy a mostly Caitlin centric chapter.

* * *

Caitlin frowned as she searched her room. After several minutes she sighed and glared at her room. Three large canvases sat, waiting to be painted and she couldn't find her paintbrushes. With a faint growl she looked through the rest of her Dad's place. She looked in the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, even her Dad's room, or in it as far as she dared. Nowhere.

With a final sigh she grabbed her keys, shoved a jacket on and decided to try Nate's place. Caitlin enjoyed painting around people, it made her calmer and much more work effective. It had been a while since she'd painted at Nate's or in McRory's, but that was the only other place she could think to look.

Her Dad had told her that nobody would be in as they would be busy doing a con on a Mayor under Federal Witness. She'd learnt not to ask questions about their work and just accept. She understood they were thieves, accepted the idea that they constantly broke the law and that any day they could get caught and go to prison, her Dad included. But those thoughts were purged from her mind. They were thoughts that she couldn't bother herself to think about.

Shaking her head, she nodded to Cora behind the bar and asked the woman if she'd seen a pack of paintbrushes. Cora shook her head, "Sorry Caitlin."

She shook her head with a smile, "I'll just check upstairs."

"They're all out."

Caitlin nodded with another smile and slight chuckle. "I know, Nate gave me a key."

She took the stairs two at a time, wondering where in Nate's apartment she could've put the paintbrushes. She pulled her keys out, unlocked the door and closed it behind herself. It seemed weird to be in there whilst there was nobody else around. It didn't seem right.

As she moved to the kitchen, wondering if she'd put them in one of the drawers, she heard a footstep behind her. She opened the top drawer, containing knives, and let herself peer out of the corner of her eye with wariness. "I can't quite figure out who you are."

She felt her hand twist around the handle of a knife and she lifted her head up to glare at the man. It was the same man who the team had been working with just weeks beforehand. "Breaking and Entering is against the law. I can have you arrested."

The man chuckled and pulled out an Interpol badge from an inside pocket. "James Sterling, you may have heard of me."

She shook her head. "Nope. Never. But you're still committing a crime."

"Shame." The accent had a faint English tint to it. "We met a few weeks ago. I mean, Nate didn't think to introduce us but I saw you, you saw me. So you know that I know Nate and his team."

"So?" she shrugged and withdrew a knife carefully, closed the drawer again and opened the one beneath it. "Lots of people know Nate and his team."

Sterling stepped closer, this time to stand on the other side of the kitchen island. "Cute. Now, I'm trying to figure out how exactly a kid fits into this little, family thing that's going on." He motioned in a vague circle motion with his hands. "I mean, I know you're not Nate's. Hardison and Parker are out of the equation. So that leaves Sophie and Eliot."

Catey felt her hand tighten on the handle of the knife and she quirked a brow at the man. "You sure about that?"

Sterling chuckled, brown eyes fixed on her with a hint of curiosity. "Oh I'm sure. In fact, I think, that there's something between you and Eliot. Now, there's no doubt, you do not look alike, but, you're too young for his taste. Father, daughter. He's your Dad."

Caitlin shrugged her shoulders with a frown, "Don't know what you're talking about."

Sterling laughed again. "I'll warn you kid, I'm about to arrest your father, Nate and the rest of them. If you were smart you'd drop that knife in your hand and walk away from him. Don't get involved. In fact, it'd be wise to not be around when it all goes down."

She glared, anger broiling in her stomach. No wonder everyone hated him. "You've got five minutes to clear out before I call the Police for trespassing on private property."

"You never did tell me your name?"

Caitlin slammed the drawer shut and stormed around the side of the island to stand toe to toe with him. She stared at him, and without breaking contact slammed the knife onto the counter. "Spencer. Just Spencer."

"Huh," Sterling said, eyes looking at the knife. "There was a case in Illinois about a Spencer who hospitalised three men."

His head jerked from being punched by Caitlin. Sterling righted his face to glare at her and she smirked. And punched him in the stomach. Sterling grabbed his stomach and glared at her. Caitlin only threw her hair back over her shoulder and lifted Sterling's face by his chin. "I don't take kindly to people threatening me or my family." She punched the man again and turned on her feet, and stormed out of the apartment.

She carried on walking, frown in place until she reached her Dad's place and slammed the door shut. It was only then that she was able to lean her body against the door, sigh, and lift her hands up to stare at the shaking fingers. Her heart raced as she realised what she'd just done, what she would've done if she'd stayed longer.

And it scared her.

Blinking back tears of panic, she shook her head and decided to stick on some loud music and just let it surround her.

* * *

"What do you mean Nate's in prison?"

Eliot sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "It was either him or us. We didn't have a choice in it." Caitlin stared up at him, shock and worry written clear across her features. But he knew something else was bothering her. "Look," he tried, "Nate knew what he was doing." When Caitlin opened and closed her face and made a vague movement with her hands, Eliot grabbed her hands and just held them still. She was shaking. "Catey, what's wrong?"

"I, I, I met," she hesitated and Eliot took her by the shoulders and offered her a tight smile, asking her again what was wrong. "Sterling. I met him. At Nate's. I was, I was over there looking, looking for my brushes and, he was, was, just there and he made some threats. He, he, he guessed that you're my Dad and I, I, I punched him. A few times. I think, I think if I erm I didn't leave it would've gotten worse and, and, and it, it scares me."

The tears began to grow and Eliot wiped his thumbs on her cheeks, clearing away running tears. "Listen to me Catey, Sterling deserved every punch you gave him. Trust me. And I will never let anyone hurt you. You know that. Okay? Look at me, what you're feeling, is just you wanting to protect yourself okay? As long as you control it, you don't ever have to worry. You don't have to be scared."

The tears slowed as Catey nodded her head and wrapped her arms around his waist. "But I am scared."

Eliot kissed the top of her head and held her tight. The next time he saw Sterling, he would not hold back his anger against the man.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N:** Okay, so I'm going to make this the last chapter in this story for now. There is a part 2 being planned but with my schedule it won't be until at least next month. I know it's been a lifetime since I wrote anything for this chapter, but I hope you can accept this chapter and I will promise you a part 2.

Eliot frowned when he saw Caitlin sat at a table with a rucksack by her feet. A largely packed rucksack. When Nate had gotten out of jail, Caitlin had been all smiles and laughs since then and now she sat, seemingly ready to leave. He didn't like it.

He moved away from the team, after a recent job where Hardison had had to play a violin and took a seat with her in the empty bar. "What's going on Catey?"

She looked up at him with a sad smile and a shrug. "Mum kinda misses me. I thought it'd be nice if I stayed with her for a while."

A realisation hit him that she had finished College a week ago and she didn't get the results until the end of summer. He didn't like this anymore then he did before. "How long's a while?"

She shrugged again and stood from her seat, stepped around the table and hugged her father. "I'll call you, I promise."

He hugged her back and felt himself at a loss for words. What could he say? Don't go? That wouldn't be fair on her mother. "California," he said to himself. Caitlin nodded into his neck and Eliot hugged her a little but tighter. After a moment he nodded and pulled her away from him. "Alright. You should do that, your Mum misses you, I know that. You should see her and make it up to her."

There was a chuckle from the both of them and Eliot stood, wrapped his arms around her once more and kissed the top of her head. "Yeah, I owe her big time for running away."

Eliot chuckled and stepped away. "When were you planning on leaving?"

Caitlin shrugged again and picked up her bag. "I was planning on getting the coach again. Give myself some time to relax. It doesn't leave for another two hours yet but-"

_But- I wanted to say goodbye properly before I left_. He heard the unspoken and nodded. "Come on," he nodded to the rest of the team stood by the bar. He knew they had been watching and even listening if Parker's face was anything to go by.

When the pair of them reached the team Parker turned away, face twisted into a frown. Sophie moved first, hugging the younger girl. "We're going to miss you around here Catey."

"It won't be forever," she said with a smile. "And I'll miss you guys too. You're awesome."

Sophie laughed and released the teen so that Hardison could hug her. "Come here girl," he said. "You keep outta trouble and if you need help of any kind, we're all here."

"I know," she said. "Thanks. I'll email you or something, I promise."

"You better," he said with a chuckle as he stepped back. "I mean it."

Nate opened his arms next and Caitlin jumped into them. "Keep them safe," she said.

Nate nodded and kissed the top of her head. "I will. I promise. You just take care of yourself."

"I promise," she echoed and she stepped away with a smile. It was then that she turned to the Thief to find the blonde picking at the label on a bottle of beer. Caitlin smirked at Parker and wrapped her arms around the Thief's shoulders. "I'll miss you Parker."

"So don't go," the woman turned and hugged her back. "I like you. I don't want you to leave."

Caitlin laughed and hung on. "I'll be back, I promise."

"You better," the Thief said as she let go of the teenager and glared at her with a smirk.

Caitlin nodded, "I will."

Eliot let the smile on his face stay as he watched the hugs and goodbyes go on. Yeah, he didn't want to let her go, but she should see her mother. He agreed. And Hannah would only call him up and yell at him if she didn't go. Besides, he told himself, she would be back for the second year of College. "Come on," he said, nodding to the door. "Let's get you home."

There were waves and the sounds of goodbyes as they left and Eliot felt himself fighting with himself over letting her go to California. When they got into the car it was silent. The entire car journey was silent but it was comfortable with a certain knowing to it. When they reached the bus depot Caitlin jumped out, threw her bag over her shoulder and turned to face her Dad. She hugged him, much harder then she had done before. "I'll miss you."

"I know darling," he said wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "I'll miss you too. We all will. You just get on home to your mother and get yourself back in one piece alright?"

"Alright," she said mimicking his accent. Eliot chuckled and kissed the crown of her head. The next half an hour was spent with him warning her that Parker might turn up just because she could. Everyone knew the Thief had grown attached to the teenager and it wouldn't surprise Eliot if Parker did go out to California just to see Caitlin.

Caitlin told him she'd call as often as she could and she would send a video clip every now and again to him.

The bus pulled up and they shared one last hug. "Be safe darling."

"You taught me to," she said with a grin and in that moment Eliot felt he had done his duty as a father. With a tight smile he watched her pick her bag back up, throw it onto her shoulder and head onto the bus. He waited until the bus pulled out before he got back into his car and drove back to McRory's.

When he got home that night it was to a quiet house. It made his heart twist. He told himself he wouldn't call her, not yet. He wanted her to get settled before he interrupted her.

So it was four days later when he got a phone call in the middle of a job. This job he had had to protect Nate from a series of militia men. He had just punched the first guy in the nose when his phone had gone. "Dammit," he said as he tried to finish the fight as quickly as possible. There was a moment where he had a chance to pull his phone out of his pocket and answer it, "Yeah?"

"Hey Dad."

"Hey darling," he said. One of the men got back up and came at him with a knife. "Give me a minute." He dropped his phone onto the floor and kicked it away as he fought once more to put the three men onto the floor once more. When he was happy that they were all knocked out he picked his phone up, wiped his hair out of his eyes and said, "Sorry about that darling."

There was a chuckle. "Don't apologise. Sounded like you were working." He felt himself chuckle at that as he left the room he was in to get to Hardison's van and await his next instructions from Nate. Everybody else was safe. "I was just calling to say Hi."

"Well," he said, "Hello. How's California?"

"Warm. Sunny. Waves." Eliot chuckled and the phone call ended much sooner then he wanted to as she said, "Oh, I erm, I got to go. Mum's taking me out to dinner somewhere. I'll call you tonight if that's okay."

"You call as much as you like he said, don't keep your mother waiting." She hung up then and Eliot turned to Hardison with a frown. "How's everyone else?"

"We're good man."

Eliot nodded and when he got home that night he pulled out a tub of chocolate ice cream he kept in the freezer and ate the entire tub to himself. To say he wouldn't wish that Caitlin was there was an understatement as he stood in the doorway to her bedroom, eyes fixed on the unmade bed and the piles of sketched sheets on the desk.

Oh yeah, he thought as he moved to tidy the room, I'm going to miss her.


End file.
